Myanmar: Health service buckles under Covid surge

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-...ut-treatment-health-service-coup-hit-myanmar/


Patients left without treatment in coup-hit Myanmar as health service buckles under Covid surge
As the virus spreads across the country, major cities like Mandalay report shortages in ICU beds, PPE and ambulances
By Nicola Smith, Asia Correspondent and Nandi Theint in Yangon 6 July 2021 • 3:37pm


Nine months pregnant, and gasping for breath, Myat Thu Zar was rushed to three hospitals on the day she died, but none were able to save the young mother or her child.

“This was to be our first baby and now she’s gone with her mother and left me alone forever,” said Myo Myint Aung, her grieving husband. “I hope Covid will end soon. In our village every house has Covid patients. There is no medical worker to help with oxygen support.”

Five months after the military seized power from the civilian government in Myanmar, the country’s healthcare system is in a state of collapse.

The struggle to get treatment during a surge in Covid-19 cases is one of the clearest signs that most citizens are now deprived of basic medical services, while treatment for chronic diseases and health emergencies is also no longer guaranteed.

“Our biggest nightmare is starting to look like it’s happening – that we get a third wave of Covid while the public health system is close to breakdown,” said Marjan Besuijen, Myanmar head of mission at Médecins Sans Frontières.

Myo Myint Aung’s nightmare began when his 31-year-old wife tested positive for Covid in strife-torn Kalay township, close to Myanmar’s northwest border with India. The town has emerged as the epicentre of a raging coronavirus outbreak that reportedly killed 200 alone in June...

 

[sharon sanders]

Please see:

China - New local COVID-19 cases reported in Ruili City, level III response implemented, Yunnan province - July 4, 2021

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burm...on-myanmars-covid-19-frontline-charities.html


Death Toll Underreported on Myanmar’s COVID-19 Frontline: Charities
By The Irrawaddy 8 July 2021

COVID-19 deaths mount with alarming speed in Myanmar’s Kale Township in Sagaing Region where social workers and philanthropic groups leading the response say at least 207 people are believed to have died from coronavirus from July 1 to 6.

But the junta-controlled Ministry of Health and Sports reported only six deaths. The estimated death toll in the area since June is nearly 600 but the ministry has reported 16.

Philanthropic groups said around 400 have died in the township in the last month.

The death toll includes coronavirus-positive patients receiving treatment at centers, those diagnosed with COVID-19 who have stayed at home as the centers are overstretched and those with symptoms who died before being diagnosed...

 

[Mary Wilson]

Myanmar Hospitals Run Out of Beds Amid COVID-19 Surge

By THE IRRAWADDY 8 July 2021

Myanmar’s hospitals and COVID-19 centers cannot accept more patients in some areas, including Yangon, as people seek treatment at home, according to activists.

A volunteer at a free ambulance service in Tamwe Township, Yangon, said: “Those affected are in trouble as hospitals and clinics are refusing to treat patients. We take patients from hospital to hospital but there are no beds so we have to take them home.”

... Since late May, Myanmar has seen a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases after the junta relaxed restrictions and allowed pagodas, beaches and other venues to reopen following their closure in April 2020.

Sagaing Region, which borders India, has seen the largest outbreak with over 4,000 cases, followed by Bago Region with over 3,900 cases, Yangon Region with over 3,400 cases, Shan State with over 2,800 cases, Chin State and Mandalay Region with over 2,000 cases each, and Ayeyarwady Region with over 1,700 cases.

https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-hospitals-run-out-of-beds-amid-covid-19-surge.html

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health...ns-as-mistrust-of-junta-infects-health-system

Myanmar's COVID crisis worsens as mistrust of junta infects health system
Reuters
Publishing date:
Jul 13, 2021 • 4 hours ago • 4 minute read •

When Ma Yati felt weak and feverish and lost her sense of smell, she had no doubt she had COVID-19.

But even with up to 30 people a day dying of the coronavirus in her home town of Kale in western Myanmar, she decided it was better to hole up in a room at home than get an official test or enter a quarantine center.

“My trust in this junta healthcare system is 0%,” the 23-year-old told Reuters by telephone from her home, where she is now recovering and trying not to infect others.

“The quarantine center has nobody to provide care. There will be nobody to help in case of emergency,” she said.

Though there are no figures to show how many, more people like Ma Yati are shunning the state health system even as COVID-19 cases multiply, fearing substandard treatment at hospitals abandoned by medics in protest at the Feb.1 military coup and wary of giving legitimacy to the junta by turning to it for help.

Hospitals were under intense pressure even before the upsurge, with some reporting most of their medics had joined the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement.

As well as increasing the risk to their own health, medics say people’s reluctance to be tested for COVID-19 or to enter quarantine could lead to more infections.

In contrast, the ousted civilian government appeared to have had more success in subduing previous waves of infections because of people’s willingness to submit to testing, tracking and isolation...