Thailand’s MAE SOT Injuries sustained by those escaping the turmoil in Myanmar are frequently more than simply physical.
Experts warn that the Southeast Asian country is experiencing a worsening mental health crisis four years after a military coup that turned into a bloody civil war. This problem is exacerbated by the junta’s atrocities against civilians and a humanitarian crisis that has resulted in the displacement of over 3 million people.
The Mae Tao Clinic, located outside the border town of Mae Sot in neighboring Thailand, provides them with some respite.
Hundreds of Burmese people show up at the clinic every morning in hopes of seeing a doctor, being vaccinated, or getting a prenatal checkup. Others work as migrant laborers or have entered Thailand illegally, while others reside in refugee camps near the Thai-Myanmar border.
Since its founding in the 1980s with just four beds, the donor-funded clinic has grown into a comprehensive primary health center providing a variety of free services, including mental health treatment. It claims that its 700 physicians, nurses, medics, and volunteers care for 120,000 patients annually; this figure could rise in the wake of the Trump administration’s embargo on foreign aid, which could result in the closure of U.S.-funded medical institutions that treat Myanmar refugees in border camps in Thailand.
According to Thein, a Myanmar refugee and one of the two psychiatrists who speak Burmese on the psychiatric care unit, those who have left Myanmar have experienced numerous traumas.
Thein passes the busy outpatient wards and crosses a peaceful bamboo grove to reach his office on Tuesdays and Fridays, the two days the unit is open. In order to safeguard patient privacy, the windows and doors of the light blue, one-story cement building are covered with translucent black film.
Thein, 36, visits roughly ten patients one-on-one each day. They include migratory workers, political refugees, and rebel troops wounded on the battle lines.
Thein, who has been in Mae Sot for a year, claimed that they are unable to sleep at night due to nightmares and flashbacks. He requested that his full name not be used in order to ensure his family’s safety.
Thein handles the most severe cases, but the clinic also employs social workers and counselors for patients with less severe mental health conditions.
“I can offer them counseling, such as breathing exercises, mindfulness, or meditation,” he stated. However, his patients frequently need medication as well, which the clinic offers at no cost.
According to Thein, he experiences anxiety occasionally as a result of the mistreatment he endured at the hands of the junta.
Like the majority of his patients, Thein’s life changed on February 1, 2021, when democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was overthrown by the Myanmar military, which had controlled the former British colony for a large portion of its history since gaining independence in 1948. The new military government responded to the peaceful protests with fatal brutality right away.
The junta has jailed over 28,000 people and killed at least 6,000, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a nonprofit organization that has kept track of arrests and deaths since the coup. The state of emergency that has been in effect since the coup was extended for an additional six months on Friday, according to Myanmar state media, further postponing the scheduled elections.
Even while the junta is still in control, ethnic rebel groups that have been fighting the Myanmar military for decades have launched a concerted onslaught, weakening its grasp on power. There is now instability along Myanmar’s borders with Thailand, India, China, and other countries as a result of the government losing control of large areas of the country in the last year.
Thein stated, “I don’t want to kill people, but I want to help my friends.” I therefore provided medical care to the injured soldiers or civilians.
Thein was taken to Myanmar’s infamous Insein Prison after being detained in 2022 on suspicion of aiding the opposition.
They used a whip to torment me. During the interrogation, I believe I was beaten by six persons. As he raised his hands over his head to show how he attempted to defend himself, Thein recalled that it was really frightening.
Following a year in incarceration, Thein was released. He escaped to Thailand from Yangon, the biggest city in Myanmar, out of fear of being arrested again.
Although it is a region of unease, Mae Sot has long been a haven for Burmese. There are many people living in constant agony while waiting for relocation and running the possibility of being arrested and deported.
Burmese who do not have the necessary documents to lawfully remain in Thailand must pay 300 baht ($9) to the local police each month in order to receive a card that keeps them from being arrested or deported, but many people cannot afford this cost.
According to Thein, some patients were detained by Thai police on their approach to the clinic because they had proper documentation.
Cynthia Maung, the clinic’s founder, was a doctor in Myanmar as well before she left in 1988 when the military government clamped down on a pro-democracy rebellion.
She remarked, “I believe there are a lot of similarities between the struggles now and back then.”
In Myanmar, where Thein received her training, mental health is frequently disregarded. The World Health Organization reports that as of 2019, the 54 million-person nation had just two mental health hospitals and 117 psychiatrists.
One of Thein’s patients, Shwe Zin Aung, has battled bipolar disorder for ten years.
Following in her brother’s footsteps, the 35-year-old teacher traveled to Mae Sot from Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar, in early December. She claimed that the clinic offered her free medication as well as a secure space to discuss her emotions.
She claimed that even though she had not directly experienced any mistreatment from the junta, she nevertheless found it quite upsetting to witness their ruthless shooting of the demonstrators.
Thein and his patients had secure lives and good occupations back home, but they are stateless here, along with over half a million other people in Thailand, the majority of whom are from Myanmar.
Before the 2021 coup, Thai authorities had mostly accepted the influx of individuals from Myanmar, despite Bangkok’s non-recognition of refugees and non-ratification of the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention.
In an attempt to resolve their legal situation, the Thai government announced in October that it would award citizenship to some 500,000 long-term residents and some children born in the nation.
Maung, 65, has been out of Myanmar for nearly 40 years, despite the fact that her clinic is well-known there.
Muang, who was 28 when she first arrived in Thailand, thought she would go back home a few months later after the political situation had calmed down. Months, however, quickly became years.
When Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy was overwhelmingly elected to a second straight term in November 2020, she felt a new sense of hope. Within three months, a military coup occurred, destroying Maung’s hopes.
She claimed that psychologists and psychiatrists who were expelled from Myanmar due to the coup arrived in Mae Sot, allowing the clinic to broaden its offerings to assist individuals who were displaced.
According to Maung, some people occasionally believe that this is normal, but it is not.