About 20 doctors and nurses from the Honolulu-based Aloha Medical Mission left for Myanmar this week to provide medical care to victims of a deadly cyclone that hit the area in May.

The volunteer medical team is bringing a record 700 pounds of medical supplies to treat patients with diseases like bacillary dysentery, cholera, malaria, typhoid and dengue fever, said Dr. Carl Lum, who is leading the emergency mission.

Lum said it was the most difficult mission to organize because there initially were no means of communication with Myanmar officials. Obtaining visas were also an obstacle; the mission had been working to get visas for volunteers since May, he said.

Lum credited chief monk Sitagu Sayadaw — who sponsored Aloha Medical Mission's previous missions to his hospital — with facilitating the visa process for the medical team.

Money raised from fundraising goes toward medicine and supplies; the Burma Association of Hawai'i also made a donation, Lum said. The team will also give some fundraising money to the chief monk for other humanitarian aid, such as food, water and building materials, he said.

All volunteers are paying their own way and will be sleeping in tents because the chief monk's hospital roof was blown off, Lum said. They're also bringing their own food, sleeping bags and mosquito nets, he said. Volunteers are scheduled to return later this month.

Myanmar's military regime has approved visas for more than 1,500 international aid workers to help victims of Cyclone Nargis, with half of them involved in relief operations in storm-hit regions, the state-media said Tuesday.

Foreign aid staffers were initially barred from cyclone-affected areas and the ruling junta was criticized for its sluggish response to the May 2-3 disaster, which killed 84,500 people and left nearly 54,000 missing.

During a visit by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in late May, the government agreed to allow foreign aid workers into the Irrawaddy delta, though it placed restrictions on their movements. The ruling junta also formed a group made up of the government, United Nations and Southeast Asian countries to monitor and facilitate the flow of international assistance.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the government has issued 1,670 visas to foreigners from the United Nations, nongovernment organizations and individuals between May 5 and June 30. It said about half of them were working in the areas hit by the storm.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.