If Thailand is "not having so many difficulties these days" then why did the Thai authorities close the Sangkhlaburi MSF office?
The [him] moderator cannot find a statement about the termination from MSF. The organisation has been there since 1976.
Shame.
[him] moderator
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MSF to Close Operation in Thailand
Lawi Weng
Irrawaddy
Friday, September 23, 2011
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), one of the world's major humanitarian organizations which provides health care, and HIV/ AIDS and tuberculosis treatment to millions, is to close its operation in Thailand at the end of this month.
According to a leaked letter from MSF-Belgium's Bangkok office to an independent partner working at the Thai-Burmese border, the organization's headquarters in Brussels has decided to close the Thai mission, which has been running since 1976, and which has provided millions of baht in aid to Burmese refugees, as well as health care, tuberculosis treatment and education.
The letter goes on to say that MSF currently faces an increased tension on its resources, both financial and human resources, due to the importance of emergency interventions in Libya, Syria and the Horn of Africa.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday by telephone, a senior member of MSF who did not want to be named confirmed that MSF will leave Thailand at the end this month.
“They regard Thailand as not having so many difficulties these days,” he said. “If the situation worsens, we will return.”
Problems between MSF and the Thai authorities were highlighted in June when more than 20 ethnic Mon health workers lost their jobs when the Thai police closed the MSF office near Sangkhlaburi after two of its staffs were arrested in Mahachai, near Bangkok, while working at the field with no legal papers to perform medical treatment.
When The Irrawaddy contacted Denis Penoy, the head of the MSF-Belgium (Thailand) mission, he confirmed that the branch office in Sangkhlaburi had been closed, but refused to comment about the closure of MSF entire mission in Thailand.
Sources close to NGOs on the Thai-Burmese border said they were aware of the withdrawal of MSF’s Thailand mission, but did not believe it would happen immediately.
There are 5,000 Burmese workers in Three Pagodas Pass, many of whom have enjoyed free health care treatment while MSF was based there.
“They are like a mountain for us—one that we can rely on,” said Tun Oo, a Burmese worker in Three Pagodas Pass. “After they left, it was as if a mountain had collapsed.”
“It is sad to hear that MSF is leaving, because our people still have great needs with regards to medical treatment,” said a female Mon health care worker in Sangkhlaburi, located in Thailand's western Kanchanaburi province. “However, we understand that Africa has more difficulties.”
MSF has served 100,000 patients since it launched a free antiretroviral treatment program in Thailand in 2000.
MSF-Belgium is the sole representative of the organization in Thailand with 85 field staff and has also been involved in helping Hmong refugees at the Lao-Thai border.
Its mostly Belgian doctors also treated thousands of undocumented Burmese migrant workers in Phang Nga, southern Thailand, and set up mobile clinics, health centers and trained Burmese-speaking medical staff. Their primary health care service includes mother-child health care and the treatment of communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
MSF began treating tuberculosis among unregistered migrant workers from Burma and refugees in Mae Lae camp in 1999 in Mae Sot, on the Thai-Burmese border.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22131
