Rejecting Military Coup, Myanmar Medical Workers Threaten Mass Strike Today

Myanmar military patrol. (Wikimedia Commons / KMK from Myanmar)

JAKARTA - Health workers at Myanmar government-owned hospitals spread across several major cities, are planning a mass strike and peaceful demonstrations on Wednesday, February 3, to reject the Myanmar military coup.

"We can only save a few of our patients while we are on duty. However, hope of several hundred people will be lost each day under military dictatorships if we remain silent about the coup," said Dr. Hein Wint War launched The Irrawaddy.

The health workers who will hold the demonstration come from government hospitals in Naypyitaw, Mandalay, Yangon, Pyay, Bago, Myawaddy, Kyaukse, Monywa, Sagaing, Pyin Oo Lwin, Magwe and Nyaung U.

To reinforce this action, health workers also urged nurses across the country to join their movement, in protest against the military.

They also condemned the coup, saying the military was forming a new government regardless of public will. They wanted to organize a civil disobedience movement, because they didn't want to serve a government that was not elected and formed by the military.

These medics of course also called for the release of President U Win Myint, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and other government figures who were detained during the coup.

The plan is for Foreign Ministry staff led by Aung San Suu Kyi to also join the civil disobedience movement.