A place that doesn't exist

It is an interesting place here. A place between two worlds. A place that according to the Thai and Burmese government doesn't exist. If it did exist, it would have to be raided as all the patients and staff are here illegally in this country. The staff can't go out at night as they would be harassed by the thai police. The patients have to either pay 500 baht ($15) to come across legally or sneak across illegally risking getting caught and having to pay a fine or being put in jail. But, the clinic has existed for over 20 years and served thousands of patients.

Today was a sad day for a baby who did exist at a place that didn't. It was born with little chance of living. First, it had a congenital heart defect. Given the Mao Tao Clinic (MTC) does not exist in the eyes of the Thai government, it had to be first referred to a sub-par hospital that does exist in Mae Sot so it could be referred then up to Chiang Mai Hospital which COULD do a surgery. Once at the Mae Sot Hospital, the baby got sicker and sicker developing severe pneumonia and then raging meningitis. After a few days in the ICU, the baby was sent back here as there was "no more to do." It was sent to MTC to die.

The baby received all available treatment. Antibiotics for PNA and meningitis, salbutolol and oxygen, paracetamol/ibuprofen for fevers, and diazepam/phenobarbitol for fevers. Today, at 1:00pm after being at MTC for 24 hours, the baby's heart stopped. After giving compressions, oxygen and epi, death was pronounced with the mother sitting at the baby's side. The mother held the baby for awhile and later I saw she was gone. The worst part is that she cannot even bring her baby home for burial as dead bodies cannot cross the border back into Myanmar. It was a sad day.