Work has started to construct the eight clininic in mYanmar funded by Pandaw Charity, whivh has beenset up by Pandaw Expeditions, the Singapore-Scottish river cruise company.

One monk has loaned the charity the land within the protection of his monastery and work will begin immediately to construct a two storey building of 1,200 square feet. This will, in addition to consulting rooms, contain an x ray facility, ultra sound room and a diagnostic lab, Pandaw chairman Paul Strachan said in a statement.

Seven already established clinics are all in villages within a 20 mile radius of the central clinic and when necessary the medical team will be able to refer patients to the central clinic for further diagnosis. This year saw us hit our 300,000th patient treatment since inception in 2010.

All medications are provided free. "Some of our clinics are now over run. The Balin clinic near the Pakokku bridge can now get several hundred patients in a day, many arriving the night before to get in the queue. The new central clinic will cost $50,000 to build and all these clinics need money to keep going. Any help you can give us would be appreciated,” Strachan said.

Pandaw has its headquarters in Singapore and the company has its domicile in Scotland in the UK.