Diagnosing heart conditions closer to home

Since 2023, BCMF has facilitated free echocardiogram (echo) screenings at Mae Sot General Hospital two to three times a year, in collaboration with Mae Sot General Hospital, Kasemrad Prachachuen Hospital, Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, Save Blue Heart Foundation, Children Heart Beyond Borders Foundation and Child's Dream Foundation (CDF). Following the echo screening, patients and their caregivers receive a consultation about their condition, and then BCMF, or CDF, or another partner provides treatment support for those who require surgery. Most cardiac conditions that BCMF supports treatment for are congenital conditions, and thus most patients who attend these free echo screenings are children or young adults.

As patients may travel from all across Burma and along the Thai-Burma border to Mae Sot for echo screenings, those who are referred by BCMF or our partner Mae Tao Clinic (MTC) may be housed in the Mae Tao Clinic patient house during their stay in Mae Sot, which may last for several days. When patients are referred from Mae La, Nu Poe and Umpiem Mai refugee camps, camp committees arrange transportation for patients and their caregivers to travel to Mae Sot for the day of their screening. Patients are registered for echo screenings on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of the echo screening, so they may need to wait several hours at the hospital and are often offered lunch while they wait.