Mae Sot doctor threatens to resign if forced to treat refugees

A Mae Sot doctor threatens to resign over refugee treatment orders. What’s next?

A doctor at Mae Sot Hospital has threatened to resign if she is forced to allocate time meant for treating Thai patients to care for Myanmar refugees at a refugee camp in Tak’s Mae Sot district.

Dr Nuttagarn Chuenchom, a specialist in infectious diseases, posted her concerns on her Facebook page on Monday, arguing that it was unfair for the hospital—already struggling with an inadequate number of doctors—to divert resources to treat Myanmar refugees while local patients were left waiting.

In her post, Nuttagarn stated that she had been ordered to visit a refugee camp to treat patients with tuberculosis and HIV after healthcare centres serving tens of thousands of refugees along the Thai-Myanmar border were ordered to close.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds these clinics with US support, ordered their closure by the end of January.

Following this, the Tak public health office instructed five Thai hospitals in the province to take turns providing medical teams to care for refugees in three camps.

Nuttagarn argued that the refugee situation should be treated as a national issue rather than being left to the provincial health office or local hospitals to manage.

She stated that she would resign from government service after 20 years if the order requiring her hospital to send doctors to the refugee camps was not rescinded by Monday. As of Tuesday, she had not posted an update on whether she had followed through with her resignation.

Nuttagarn explained that Thai patients in Mae Sot were already suffering due to the shortage of doctors, often waiting in long queues for check-ups and treatment. Now, with doctors being reassigned, the situation would worsen, she said.

She also pointed out that the number of refugees was nearly equal to the population of an entire district. She urged the central government to allocate a budget to hire the same group of Myanmar doctors who had been working in the clinics, rather than forcing Thai doctors to take on additional responsibilities when Thai patients were also in need of care.

(2025/02/04-00:00)