Communities along Inle Lake, in southern Shan State, want healthcare services improved in their village tract so when they fall ill they don’t have to travel far for medical attention.

Tin Swe Oo, the headman for Inn Chan Kay Lar village tract, told SHAN there isn’t a doctor or even a clinic in their area. A nurse and her medical assistant are the only healthcare practitioners providing for the 1,400 families that live in the six communities in the village tract.

Tin Swe Oo told SHAN they asked a general administration development officer for Nyaungshwe township to open a clinic but he refused.

“We want to be healthy and live long,” the headman said.

Without a clinic, locals said medical services are poor and it’s really difficult to travel to Nyaungshwe public hospital when there’s an emergency. 

Most of the residents support themselves by farming, with at least one of the villages in the tract cultivating potatoes.