Irrawaddy-Feb 2
Almost 900 health care workers have been arrested by Myanmar’s junta since the 2021 coup, according to Insecurity Insight, a Swiss-based research agency.
The institution has identified 1,127 incidents of violence against or obstruction of health care staff in Myanmar by the regime. Health care staff started the civil disobedience movement (CDM) two days after the February 1 coup in 2021 to oppose the military dictatorship. Other civil servants soon joined the movement and medics have worked with resistance groups in liberated areas. In the months following the coup, medics were arrested for allegedly joining the CDM or for treating anti-regime activists, Insecurity Insight reported. It said at least 897 health workers have been arrested in 302 incidents and they were often been beaten in detention.
Health care staff have been jailed for between three and 25 years, many were tortured and at least five have been killed, the report said. According to a network of CDM medics, around 90 health care staff have been killed during junta raids and violence. Clinics are frequently raided by junta personnel searching for CDM health workers or injured protesters and patients are routinely searched and risk being arrested or forcibly discharged, it said. Since late 2022 at least 49 airstrikes on health care hubs in resistance strongholds were recorded, causing damage to clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and rural health centers, and killed or injured health workers, said Insecurity Insight. It said at least 25 health centers have been occupied by junta forces and are repeatedly targeted with bombs dropped by resistance drone teams, mostly in Sagaing Region. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/swiss-report-900-myanmar-medics-detained-since-2021-coup.html
