Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital

Hallym University Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital and Hallym Burn Foundation support refugees of Myanmar. As the healthcare system in Myanmar collapsed after the military coup in Myanmar, a large number of refugees have difficulty in receiving public medical benefits and are highly exposed to the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Hangang hospital and the Foundation held a donation ceremony of quarantine supplies and foods for Myanmar refugees on March 2 at the hospital’s new wing. Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Gyun-seok Suh of the hospital, Office Manager Se-Hee Hwang of the Foundation, and a Myanmar burn patient Pay Phyo attended the donation ceremony.

At the event, 2,100 face masks, 246 hand sanitizers, 16 bags of 20kg of rice, 300 bug repellents were delivered. The relief items were prepared with a donation of about KRW 3,300,000 (approx. USD 3,000) was raised by 600 givers through Naver Happybean.

This was the hospital’s second relief program for Myanmar refugees. In response to the urgent request of its burn patient Phyo, Hangang hospital raised a used clothing donation campaign at five hospitals of Hallym University Medical Center and delivered twenty boxes of clothes to Myanmar in July last year.

Hangang’s burn patient Phyo said with gratitude, “The clothes you gave last year and the quarantine supplies and foods this time are literally life-saving items for our people at this very moment. I will deliver them to Myanmar as soon as possible and also deliver your warmest heart to our people.”

“We sincerely hope it could help the Myanmar people who are in a hard time now to overcome this difficult situation,” said CAO Suh of the hospital.

Meanwhile, since its establishment in 2008, Hallym Burn Foundation has been delivering burn treatment skills, enhancing the healthcare environment system, and improving burn disaster management system to help people in 10 neighboring countries in Southeastern Asia such as Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Brunei. Especially, the Foundation has worked on various collaborative programs with the Hlaing Tharyar Public Hospital in Myanmar.

By Jonghun Im, Int’l Cooperation Team, HUMC (imjonghun@hallym.or.kr)