Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - July 22, 2003
Here, migrant workers are not asked whether they have registration cards. They need only to give their names and their symptoms before being diagnosed and given medicine by health personnel who can speak Burmese.
"I come here because I am afraid to go the hospital," said Ee, 51, through an interpreter. "People there don't understand Burmese and I can't speak Thai. It's a big problem."
Apart from seeking medicine for herself, Ee had also brought along a three-day-old infant, Sunda, who had rashes all over her body.
Ee is a midwife and a source of refuge for young women in her migrant workers' community, helping them with home births and traditional post-natal care. Sunda's mother is just one of the women she is helping.
"Her husband left her," said Ee, sighing. "She gave birth at home because she has no money to go to the hospital and also because she was afraid of being arrested. She is still bleeding and can't walk, so she couldn't take the baby here herself."
The mobile clinic is a joint effort between the Raks Thai Foundation-Care Thailand and the Samut Sakhon Hospital.
The foundation provides Burmese-speaking health personnel while the hospital helps with the medicines and equipment. The clinic runs five days a week at five different venues near the migrants' workplaces.
The services start after factory working hours, to make it easy for the workers to access them.
According to Sompong Srakaew, Raks Thai coordinator in Mahachai, there are about 37,000 registered Burmese migrant workers in Samut Sakhon, but the real figure is estimated to be at least three times higher. Nearly 70 percent of the workers are ethnic Mon. The majority are in the 17 to 25 age group and single.
The lack of education on safe and protected sex, as well as lack of access to reproductive health services, has resulted in serious health problems for migrant workers, especially young women, he said.
Unplanned pregnancies are rife. So are abortions, HIV and Aids.
"It is a difficult situation because sex remains a culturally taboo topic," said Sompong. "Our clinic is a tool to reach them so we can educate them on reproductive health."
Apart from operating mobile clinics, Raks Thai also runs a day clinic at its office a few steps away from Talad Kung Mahachai, where migrant workers work for the prawn industry.
The clinic offers basic health care and serious cases are referred to the Samut Sakhon Hospital, complete with the patient's case history and symptom details, to facilitate the treatment.
"Our joint effort is possible because health authorities here understand that we cannot turn a blind eye to the migrant workers' health. Not helping them would eventually aggravate health problems in Thai communities."
Many hospitals are not as understanding. "There have been cases of migrant women being arrested and deported right after their deliveries at the hospital," said Sompong.
Apart from day and evening clinics, Raks Thai also operates peer education programmes by training health volunteers among the migrant workers so they can help the community with first aid, free distribution of birth control pills, and safe sex education.
"Many women still don't know how to use birth control pills correctly, resulting in unplanned pregnancies," said Dadoo, one of the volunteers. "Husbands and wives also don't use condoms, which increases the risk of HIV and Aids for the wives."
Like his friends, Dadoo works long hours at night at Talad Kung prawn market. Though he needs rest, he chooses to use his free time to help the community instead.
"I've seen many people suffer from work accidents and many women die from abortions," he said. "It's hurtful _ we're people too, but we can't get medical help like others.
"Many deaths could have been prevented if the people could have seen a doctor or if they'd even had proper information.
"As a health volunteer, at least I can help in some small way, otherwise many more people will remain in the dark, with no one at all to turn to."
- To attain more information or
to assist the clinic for migrant workers, contact Raks Thai Foundation-Care Thailand, tel 02-2781755/6 or (034) 815-719.
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