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Analysis documents nearly 300 attacks against health workers under Myanmar's brutal coup

Protestors make the three-finger salute during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon - AFP/STR
Protestors make the three-finger salute during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon - AFP/STR

Dozens of health workers have been killed, hundreds arrested and hospitals raided at least 87 times in the devastating aftermath of Myanmar’s February coup, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The shocking new analysis documents at least 297 attacks and threats against health workers, facilities and transports in the conflict-torn country, including 29 deaths and 40 injuries among medical personnel, many of whom have now gone into hiding from the brutal junta.

The report was compiled between February 1 – the date of the coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government – and September 30 by Insecurity Insight, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and the Johns Hopkins University Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR).

It charts the decimation of the Southeast Asian nation’s healthcare system as the country sways close to economic collapse under military rule. The report describes how troops target doctors, block citizens’ access to lifesaving treatment and attack and occupy hospitals and clinics.

The military has been accused of “actively weaponising Covid-19 to destroy the opposition”, by diverting vital equipment and scarce medical supplies to military personnel to reinforce the to the civilian population that it grants access to basic services only to those who support the junta’s rule.

In a disturbing recent trend, the promise of health treatment has been used to arrest civilians suspected of opposing the military, violating medical neutrality.

In one incident in August, during a deadly spike in Covid-19 cases, an elderly pro-democracy activist was arrested at a vaccination centre after he reportedly received a call that he was eligible for a jab. On arrival, he was detained and is still in custody.

The resulting climate of fear over the new junta tactic and the increased use of informants has undermined trust between the medical profession and the public.

Nurses have reported concerns that government agents may pose as patients to glean intelligence on staff with links to or providing care for members of the opposition movement.

“We are not criminals. We are caring and compassionate nurses who want to help reduce pain and suffering. We just want to give care to our people,” one nurse told the report’s researchers.

The military has been particularly brutal towards health workers for their leading role in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), which has encouraged government employees to strike as part of a campaign to restore democracy.

As many as 400 doctors and 180 nurses have been issued arrest warrants, forcing many to live and operate underground.

Those who are caught face torture, jail or even death at the hands of the military.

According to the PHR report, in September a doctor and nurse in Yangon were dragged from their apartments in the middle of the night by armed forces and tortured and killed. Both had volunteered to treat COVID-19 patients and were involved in the CDM.

Multiple doctors have told the Telegraph they remain in constant fear for their lives for providing medical care to the population.

In August, a doctor in hiding said patients were also dying because they could not receive emergency care during curfew hours.

“They shoot anyone who is on the road after 8pm so some days the patients are calling us and the time is after 8pm and we just can’t go. There are some patients we lose,” he said.

He said the junta’s targeting of health workers was fuelled by their desire to hide their own chronic mismanagement of Myanmar.

“They are killing the country. They are making our country poorer and poorer. Our country has no hope,” he said.

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