Refusing treatment for Wa is wrong


Source : Aroon Suansilppongse, The Nation

Recent news that Thai local officials refused the Wa leaders' request to assist in treatment of their tribal patients who suffer from malarial and typhoid diseases are mind boggling.

Those are deadly diseases without adequate and timely treatment. It seems the initial reaction, on humanitarian grounds, should be a sense of cooperation by accepting them for treatment.

In the short term, the added expense should be shared and reimbursed by the World Health Organisation or the industrial countries. In the long term, this could open the door for more cooperation with the Wa leaders in eradicating drug trafficking from that area.