Medical volunteers spread aloha to Myanmar

The Aloha Medical Mission sent a team of 22 volunteer doctors and nurses this month to Myanmar, also known as Burma, to provide free medical and surgical care to indigent patients at Inle Lake and Sagaing.

All volunteers paid their own way and the medicines were funded by public donations.

After arriving at the small town of Heho, we took a bus up a winding mountainous road to the boat landing at Inle Lake, one of the largest and most beautiful lakes in Asia. There are no other roads leading to or around the lake, so all transportation here is by small boats holding five passengers each. The farmers and fishermen live in homes at the water’s edge, built on stilts and with thatched roofs, with a boat under each house.

They tend to their floating gardens made from dredged-up, decaying vegetation and anchored with bamboo poles. Their crops do not need watering, as it is like a hydroponic garden. And there is no need for fertilizer, as the decaying debris is like compost.

The medical team from Hawaii stayed at a floating hotel and boated every day to the small hospital 15 minutes away. At 7 a.m., hundreds of patients were waiting, and they all came by boat, too. The hallways and examining rooms were packed with people standing or sitting on floor mats.

Sometimes we used two different local interpreters, as the ethnic tribes spoke different dialects. We brought a large supply of medications, and most of it was used, as 1,500 patients were examined and treated.

The hospital lab was poorly equipped, so we donated testing instruments and test strips for anemias, kidney and liver functions.

Our gynecologists removed uterine cancers and large ovarian cysts and repaired uterine prolapses.

Our pediatricians treated many sick babies with antibiotics, as there are no pediatricians within miles.

The surgeons performed more than 150 major operations, including large thyroid goiters and cancers, gallstones, appendicitis, hernias, parotid tumors and breast cancers. A 45-year-old patient had a far-advanced jaw cancer, which was inoperable. Unfortunately, she was too poor to seek medical help earlier.

A 25-year-old woman had a large thyroid cancer, which spread to the lymph nodes on both sides of her neck. Fortunately, we were able to remove the cancer and involved neck glands.

At 9 p.m., we returned to our hotel by boat, with a boat handler standing at the bow, flashlight in hand, to guide us past the patches of hyacinth and tall aquatic papyrus.

At Sagaing, we fitted hand prosthesis for 67 patients with amputated hands, mostly from industrial accidents. They were farmers who were not trained to work with machines, like sugar cane grinders.

With the prosthesis, a once-useless arm can now be used to hoe or use a broom, write or ride a bicycle. We ran out of prostheses, so more than 50 patients were told to come back next year.

All in all, it was a very successful mission by a dedicated group of volunteers who spread the spirit of aloha to a developing country.