Yangon (AFP)

In Burma, protesters shot and wounded during rallies against the junta fear arrest if they visit military-run hospitals and desperately seek benevolent doctors to operate on them in secret.

Since the February 1 coup and the dismissal of the civilian government of Aung Saan Suu Kyi, pro-democracy protests have been suppressed by the army with rifles, machine guns and other mortar shells.

More than 800 people have been killed and thousands more injured by security forces, according to human rights groups.

A modest cyclo-rickshaw driver in Yangon, Maung Win Myo has not worked since March, after being shot in the leg during a demonstration.

"I can't even sleep properly at night," the 24-year-old told AFP, grimacing on a mattress on the floor in the studio he shares with his wife and two children .

His broken leg required an expensive operation, almost $ 1,000 in the private hospital he went to for treatment.

He obviously does not have this sum, although he already relies on the solidarity of his neighbors to feed his family.

"We did not dare to go to the military hospital, which is why we went to a private hospital when we have no money," Maung Win Myo's wife told AFP. .

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- "I don't know how to survive" -

Usually reserved for the military, military hospitals have been opened to the public due to the widespread civil disobedience movement in public hospitals, most of which have come to a standstill.

Like Maung, some wounded give up going for free treatment in military hospitals, where their injuries can be used as proof of their involvement in the anti-junta movement.

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"They fear being arrested," Marjan Besuijen, Doctors Without Borders' chief of mission in Burma, told AFP.

According to a report released by MSF last month, the junta raided organizations "providing first aid to injured protesters and destroying their facilities."

The strike movement in the civil service and in other sectors such as banking, is destroying the country's economy.

Withdrawing money from an ATM takes hours of queuing, sometimes to no avail, and the amount is limited to around $ 120 per week.

Ngwe Nu Nu's husband was shot in the eye by security forces on his way to work in Myingyan (center) at the end of April.

Main breadwinner, he died in Mandalay hospital a few days later.

"I did my best to save his life," she told AFP.

"Now I don't know how to survive without him."

As the coup enters its fifth month, drug supplies also become more difficult, with border posts slowing down.

For a month, "we have had difficulty obtaining medical equipment for operations" because stocks are exhausted, a doctor from Mandalay (center) told AFP.

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“If this lasts, there will be a more serious impact on patients,” the doctor said, on condition of anonymity.

- "Until the end of this battle" -

May Win, 50, a mother of three, is also unable to work after suffering a bullet in her hand two months ago while demonstrating against the junta in Mandalay.

She found a doctor who was kind enough to operate on her broken thumb, but more than a month later the injury did not fully heal.

"I used to go to work on a motorcycle, but now I won't be able to work," she told AFP.

But she remains determined to come forward as soon as her hand is completely healed.

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"We must fight for the next generations and for our country until the end of this battle," she assures us.

© 2021 AFP