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Aung Than Kyaw

Aung Than Kyaw is three years old. His family live in Dye Oo, Pago Division in Burma. His mother says she has noticed her child’s health problem since birth.  When she went into labour, she went to Pago Hospital and the doctor there told her the child had a congenital neurological problem and she needed to go to Rangoon Hospital to get treatment.  At the time, they could not go because they did not have enough money to get to Rangoon Hospital. They returned home to earn money and save. When Aung Than Kyaw was nine months old, the family went to Rangoon Hospital to get him treatment. In Rangoon Hospital they did an operation on the child and told them to return for a follow up.  However, when they went back for the follow up the doctor who treated the child was no longer working there and the other doctor who saw them did not do anything further for Aung Than Kyaw.  They went to Rangoon Hospital four times but the child did not receive any further treatment.  After this they decided to come to Mae Tao Clinic (MTC), a friend from their village who lives in Myawaddy, near MTC, told them to come.  They needed to also find work while here but there were no jobs for them and the rest of the family returned to their village and continued to work on their farm. Only Aung Than Kyaw’s mother waited with her youngest child to try and get him treatment.
                  
Aung Than Kyaw’s parents are rice farmers.  They do not earn money regularly, when they finish their farming for a year they sell the paddy to get money to use for the family food and other expenses for the year. Some of the paddy they also save for the family. Their two older children (aged 22 and 20) also work together with their parents on the farm. They did not attend school because their parents could not support them to go to school when they were younger.

Aung Than Kyaw’s mother says she thinks her child feels pain because he cannot sleep at night and he is very emotional and he is developing abnormally.  She says that it is so difficult to get her child treatment because she does not have enough money. She hopes her child gets better so he can get an education when he grows up and he can do what ever he wants to do in life.  She says she will support him to do this.