A major international medical aid
group said on Monday it was pulling out of Thailand after 36 years because of
government interference, leaving thousands of migrants without access to a
doctor.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said in
June it had to close two projects, which it said treated around 55,000 mainly
Burmese unregistered migrants.
"We had enormous difficulties with the authorities to
find strategies acceptable to them and us," said head of mission in
Thailand Denis Penoy.
"We were forced to close one of our private clinics and
pushed to close the other," he added. "We will not conduct any more
activities and will have no representation in Thailand."
Access to healthcare for unregistered migrants at the two
medical centres has been central to MSF operations in the country for two
years.
But Penoy said the authorities in Samut Sakhon, a port town
on the outskirts of Bangkok, instructed the local MSF clinic to limit its work
to prevention and told doctors not to treat general practice patients.
Its second surgery, in the Three Pagoda Pass on the border
with Myanmar, was also later closed.
Activists estimate there are up to about three million
migrants in Thailand, mostly from impoverished neighbour Myanmar, also known as
Burma.
More than a million are believed to remain without documents
despite a recent government registration scheme.
MSF, which employs around 70 staff in the kingdom, first
worked in Thailand in 1975.
Penoy said a return to the country was possible "in the
event of an emergency or great need".
Source : AFP
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