The doctor has already seen 80 patients on our floating clinic "Polli" in Myanmar today - and the day is only half over. (For comparison: in Germany, a GP sees an average of around 45 patients a day).

Over the last few weeks, the number of patients at the Irrawaddy River Doctors exploded. The crew on board is doing an incredible job, but can barely keep up with the requests from those in need. There is also a shortage of medicines - twice the number of patients means twice the number of medicines. These have always been extremely difficult to obtain anyway, and the current situation demands an enormous amount of energy, time and money to procure the necessary resources.

The reason for this challenging situation is the cuts in diesel recently introduced by the military government. Many petrol stations have now closed completely, only sell fuel at extremely high prices or have regulated the amount of fuel sold to cars and motorcycles. As a result, many people from more remote regions no longer have the opportunity to travel further, for example to see a doctor. As a result, everyone who needs medical care in the Irrawaddy Delta is now waiting for the polli to reach their location.

Of course, the diesel cuts also have enormous economic and social consequences for many other sectors: cab drivers can no longer practice their profession, logistics companies are going under, peripheral regions can no longer be supplied with food and other important everyday utensils.

The situation is an enormous burden for our employees in the Delta, and once again we cannot believe how tirelessly they are trying to help everyone who needs help.

More on the situation in Myanmar: Radio Free Asia; Alarabiya News