Myanmar health system strained by cyclone

"When it rains, diseases spread much faster," the doctor said, promising to return the next day with more medicine, water and supplies. She told Saw Htin to let her son sleep at the monastery: "Keep him warm. Give him medicine and food and let's hope he gets better."

About 30 Thai doctors, nurses and other medical experts also were expected to travel to the devastated Irrawaddy Delta in the coming days to help treat victims living in camps or remote villages, said Dr. Surachet Satitniramai, director of Thailand's National Medical Emergency Services Institute.

Myanmar health officials insisted on civilian doctors -no military health workers -from Thailand, and said the group would not be given access to hospitals already staffed by local physicians.

"The team's mission is very important," Surachet said. "If we can gain trust from the Myanmar government, I think they will open up more to outside aid."

A group of 50 Indian military doctors and paramedics also was given approval to enter Myanmar, but it was unclear Saturday whether they would be allowed to travel from Yangon to the delta.

Myanmar's paranoid military junta has been slow to accept outside aid, granting very few visas to relief workers desperate to help. No foreign experts from the World Health Organization have been given approval to enter the country. And because only local staff have been allowed into the worst areas, data collection has been slow.

"We have a challenge ahead of us," said Eric Laroche, WHO's top crisis expert in Geneva. "WHO is trying to detect as soon as possible any epidemics."

Nearly 78,000 people were killed and another 55,000 remain missing following the storm, according to Myanmar's state-run media. Aid groups have estimated that the toll of dead and missing is probably closer to 128,000.

Many children are suffering from diarrhea, and some foreign aid agencies have reported a few cholera cases, but no major outbreaks have been reported.

The relief group Save the Children UK warned that thousands of children could die of starvation within two or three weeks unless more aid gets into the country quickly.