People left helpless as charity/rescue teams face restrictions

February 11, 2022

HURFOM: The new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, is spreading across Burma. On February 7, 2022, 40 schoolteachers and students from a high school in Kyaik Kha Mi Town, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State were found infected with the virus.

On January 11, 2022, a high-school teacher, ten students and their family members in Paung Township were infected with COVID-19.

According to records released by the military junta, as of February 9, 2022, there have been 16,804 COVID-19 cases and 1,406 deaths attributed to the virus.

Despite infection rates remaining high, local charity and rescue teams are unable to provide support to the people due to the imposition of new restrictions being imposed by the military junta.

“During the third wave, the charity/rescue teams brought patients to hospital. They burned the dead bodies. They sprayed sanitizer and did everything. (When something happened), we, the people, phoned them and requested help, including bringing oxygen cylinders. Now, COVID-19 infections have started again. With the teams having to stop their services, we’ll have a lot of problems,” said a local woman.

After the coup, the military junta has imposed restrictions on local charity and rescue teams. The junta has not allowed the teams to use unlicensed ambulances and forced them to comply by providing detailed organizational registration information. In addition, the teams have to report their activities to the junta. The junta said there are no exceptions. The teams are also not permitted to provide emergency services at night and can not bring patients from remote areas to hospital.

There is also a significant rise in gasoline prices and the number of donors has been declining so that the charity and rescue teams in Mon State are facing even more difficulties. Most have had no alternative but to stop their services.

“If a COVID-19 case is found in the village, just the local charity teams do medical check-ups and bring patients to hospital. Now they have stopped their services due to current challenges. If we have more COVID-19 cases in the future, I’m worried that we’ll be helpless,” said a resident from a village from Thanbyuzayat Township.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News