Hospital beds, medical personnel, oxygen cylinders, vaccines ... None of this is available in sufficient numbers in Burma, in the grip of chaos since the military putsch of February 1 ...

Burma: "It is clear that a health disaster is happening"

Families line up with their coffin in front of a crematorium at Yay Way Cemetery in Yangon on July 14, 2021. AP

Text by: Heike Schmidt Follow

5 mins

Hospital beds, medical personnel, oxygen cylinders, vaccines ... None of this is available in sufficient numbers in Burma, in the grip of chaos since the military putsch of February 1.

The UN Special Rapporteur for Burma, Tom Andrews, calls for help from the international community.

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According to Burmese news sites, the military began firing shots this week to disperse crowds hoping to buy oxygen.

Many hospitals are understaffed because since the start of the protests against the coup, nurses and doctors have been on the front lines.

RFI: The number of Covid infections is exploding with some 5,000 new cases per day and a growing number of deaths.

Tom Andrews

Yeah, there's no question about it.

We are facing an explosion in the number of contaminations, certainly underestimated elsewhere.

The number of deaths is also increasing, which can be seen in mortuaries across the country.

It is clear that a health disaster is happening in Burma.

What is missing the most?

Oxygen, vaccines?

Everything is missing.

There are simply no health structures capable of responding to the scale of the crisis.

One of the reasons is that the junta is targeting the health sector [of its repression].

We have 240 documented cases that prove soldiers attacked clinics and medical personnel in the past week.

We also know that the Burmese are deeply suspicious of the junta and everything it manages.

So even if the military provides medicines and vaccines, people will not accept this help because they have no confidence in the junta.

Moreover, the situation is particularly serious in prisons where many political dissidents have been arbitrarily detained since the

coup

In these sanitary conditions, detention amounts to a death sentence for many political leaders.

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To read also: One hundred days after the coup, Burma more unstable than ever

Medical staff have been on the front lines since the protests began.

Can you tell us if the strike in the medical sector continues to this day

Yes, the movement continues.

Nurses, doctors and other health workers are still at the forefront of the

civil disobedience movement

We know that they have established, or at least attempted to establish, private structures with the help of charities in order to provide emergency aid.

But as soon as the military finds such structures, they attack them and arrest the personnel.

The junta is doing everything to undermine the health system, and in doing so, they have totally lost any confidence the Burmese could have in their health system.

The situation is very, very difficult.

► See also: In Burma, the humanitarian situation is worsening while the economy remains paralyzed

You call on the international community to guarantee aid that will not depend on the goodwill of the junta.

What do you think concretely

Above all, the junta must agree to open its borders to international non-governmental organizations so that they can provide vaccines and all kinds of emergency aid that the population needs.

NGOs, national governments, the United Nations and therefore the World Health Organization (WHO) must work together to provide appropriate care to the people of Myanmar.

Without this international aid, which must not depend on the goodwill of the military regime and which the Burmese people can trust, I fear that the situation will be out of control in a short time, even more than it is. already currently.

Shortly before the coup, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) granted special assistance to respond to the health crisis.

Do we know how this money was used by the junta

We do not know it.

Indeed, $ 350 million has been granted to Burma to manage the Covid crisis.

But the junta, according to my information, has not been accountable for the use of these funds.

Moreover, I suspect the soldiers of having spent this money other than for the initial objective.

Burma: "It is clear that a health disaster is happening"

Burma: "It is clear that a health disaster is happening"

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