Nang Mar Lar Wan

Nang Mar Lar Wan is a native of Kengtung and well aware that the hill people in Keng Tung Township have difficult access to health care services. Since she became a doctor, she has been very keen to offer her medical services in remote mountainous areas.

 
She runs her clinic and handles healthcare charity works as well. She is also a passionate activist. Her works include providing healthcare services to people in remote and mountainous areas, medical assistance to patients who cannot get treatment at the hospital in Keng Tuang, and financial support to elderly people.
 
She prefers to choose isolated and far-flung areas to places, which easy to get to by motorcycle within an honor, said the doctor.  
 
“Priority has been given to hard-to-reach areas that are not accessible by car,” she said. “We choose to drive on narrow, steep mountain routes for two hours and provide health care services once or twice a month.”
 
Health care services are desperately needed in remote mountain areas of Kengtung Township in Eastern Shan state. There is no medicine for people to take in those places and people still rely on spiritual mediums for their health.
 
“When something happens to them, they have no medicine to take, so they rely on the shaman. They would do what the shaman says. If they recover, it is okay. But if they are not, they will continue to suffer,” said the doctor sadly.
 
The doctor has been taking night trips to remote, far, and hard-to-reach areas to treat patients in at least three villages during each trip. It has been more than four years since she started to provide medical services for the first time, but she has not reached all remote villages in Kengtung Township. She who chose the rough routes faced many challenges. “Every trip is exciting for me”, she said.