Dr. Bala, who has been doing volunteer work seven days a year for twelve years, brings big changes to the underdeveloped and untrusted medical care in Southeast Asia.

A Japanese doctor, Dr. Kazuhiro Omura (aka Dr. Bala) moved to Myanmar to start medical volunteering in 2007. Bala means “powerful” in Burmese. He got his nickname, Dr. Bala at that time. There were many poor patients who could not go to the hospital for long time and their symptoms worsen. He faced many situations that he could not experience in Japan. Dr. Bala also volunteered for medical care in Cambodia, Nepal, and Thailand and he felt many problems such as discrimination and lack of education. He decided to return to Japan in 2009. His these 2 year-experience gave him the idea of his way of volunteering.

Once he went back to Japan, he started going to Cambodia one week every year to share his surgical knowledge and skills to local doctors from 2010 to 2019 using his summer vacation. Dr. Bala’s medical influence in the countries is enormous. His passion and long term activities have changed the attitude and consciousness of local doctors and Japanese doctors who joined his volunteer activity. 

Greeting from Dr. Bala (Aka: Dr. Kazuhiro Omura)

Hi, my name is Kazuhiro Omura, nickname: Dr. Bala.

After I graduated from the Jikei University School of Medicine,  Tokyo, Japan, I studied at Asahi Chuo hospital as a resident. I decided to join NPO “Japan Heart” in Myanmar, right after I listened someone’s lecture. Then I did medical volunteers in Asian countries.

I struggled the way of my medical volunteering with Japan Heart. So I came back to Japan to look for my style of volunteering. Then I have visited Asian countries as an ENT doctor since 2012.

It has not been an easy journey. But I’m glad that I’m still able to keep doing the activities and Koby has been making a film about it. I met him in 2006 when I went to study medical cares in UCLA for 1 month. I joined his rugby club to play with him.

He has been filming my activities from Los Angeles for 12 years with a lot of camera equipment and more than 10 hours flight. This film has his passion as well as the history of my activities. 

The local doctors in Asian countries has gotten their knowledge and skills to protect his own people as ENT doctors for this 12 years. I’m the most experienced with Endoscope Sinus Surgery removing tumor in Japan now.  I internationally published 10 surgical techniques that I developed.  

A small step has been changing my life. I just try these steps until now. I hope this film will help that you will step forward in your life, too.