The Kwai River Christian Hospital

Note: We haven’t been involved with KRCH for a long time, but we know that its management has changed. Please understand as you read tis section that it hasn’t been updated in several years.

The Kwai River Christian Hospital (KRCH) is located in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand and is a public health and community service center serving a mountainous rural area along Thailand's border with Myanmar (also called Burma) since 1960. In addition to providing critical medical care for thousands of people who would otherwise have none, this facility also serves as an important research facility for AFRIMS (Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science). Focusing on tropical diseases, the research on infectious diseases performed here is of worldwide significance. Please visit the AFRIMS Website.

See January 2006 UPDATE on KRCH from Dr. Phil McDaniel. Click Dr. Phil button on left.

This page is designed to provide general information about KRCH for potential contributors, volunteers, and concerned citizens.

These important programs are maintained by KRCH:

-- Under-Five program; immunizes children and fights long-term malnourishment: currently treating 700-1000 kids per month.

-- United Christian School; this progressive program on the hospital grounds provides quality education for hundreds of poor Thai, Mon, Karen and Burmese children, some of whom cannot afford shoes, or could not otherwise afford to go to school.

-- Tuberculosis Ward; patients with no other option live on hospital property, some with family members. Some outpatients fail to show up for their weekly treatments, forcing hospital staff into the jungle to find them and administer the medication; currently treating 61 patients.

-- Leprosy Patients: Although the disease had been wiped out in Thailand, several untreated patients per year come across the border from Burma and have no other option for treatment.

-- AIDS Education and assistance for people and families with AIDS. Many victims are rejected by their families and remain at the hospital complex until they die.

-- Scholarship Fund; supports promising local students through medical and nursing schools. They return to work at the hospital, since no other Thai medical professionals have chosen a career in this nonprofit mission hospital. Four nursing students are currently being supported.

 -- Elderly Persons Programs: support for those with chronic diseases; provides a sense of "family," for those otherwise alone.

-- Family Planning; educates women that having fewer babies and waiting between pregnancies will help more children survive.

-- Staff Training; including training for midwives who are of vital importance. During our visit, two babies were born, one by CC (with no general anesthesia) in the midst of other emergencies and ongoing matters.

-- Grade School medical services; basic care for kids not covered in the Under Fives Program.

-- Hygiene and Clean Water Education; teaches disease prevention through sanitation: helps settlements build small dams upstream and provides simple plumbing systems to deliver cleaner water.

-- Hospital Equipment: a vital and often depleted fund for technical equipment. Example: ultrasound equipment (approximately. $20,000) could dramatically reduce the number of invasive surgeries and improve health care and recuperation time for hundreds of patients per year.

- Feeding Children program; provides emergency food, at least one meal a day, for infants and youngsters suffering from malnutrition and who have no other access to nourishment.

-- Safe House; this detention and basic care center provides protection and dormitory bunks for mentally ill and physically handicapped Burmese people who entered Thailand illegally, were imprisoned, and finally taken back to the Burma border and abandoned. They are unable care for themselves and would die if forcibly returned to Burma.