Pioneering The Demonstrations Against Military Coup, Myanmar Regime Arrests Doctors To Health Staff

Rallies of nurses in Myanmar. (Twitter/@ HninYuL56255394)

JAKARTA - The Myanmar military regime has carried out a series of repressive measures to counter protests against the military coup. One of the targets of their repressive actions is hospitals and health workers, ranging from doctors to health staff.

On Friday at 00:00 a.m. local time, the Mandalay Police raided the house of Prof. Dr. Khin Maung Lwin, rector of the Medical University. Without a warrant, they tried to detain him on suspicion of supporting a demonstration or civil disobedience (CDM) against Myanmar's military coup February 1.

However, this attempt failed, after local residents came and immediately beat pots and pans, a symbol of resistance as well as attracting attention, so that the police failed to arrest Professor Maung Lwin, as reported by The Irrawaddy.

That same night, the police had to stop their efforts to arrest the medical superintendent of Aunglan Hospital in Magwe County who was suspected of following the CDM, after residents immediately appeared in front of the hospital.

Government hospital health workers across Myanmar agreed to carry out an action against the Myanmar military coup starting Wednesday, January 3.

Nurse's rally action in Myanmar. (Twitter/@HninYuL56255394)

The rally was attended by thousands of doctors, nurses, and other staff from more than 100 government hospitals and health departments across Myanmar. This action was also attended by thousands of civil servants from various sectors throughout Myanmar. The police have also stepped up efforts to arrest doctors and civil servants who attended the CDM.

Pyae Phyo Naing, who worked at a hospital in Ingapu Township, Ayeyarwady County, was arrested by police on February 11. At the time of his arrest, he was treating patients at a philanthropic clinic amidst the government hospital closure, his family has heard nothing of his whereabouts since.

Three of the four Ingapu Township hospitals are currently closed after doctors joined the CDM and went on strike. Attempts by plainclothes men and women, claiming to be police, to retrieve doctors who have participated in the CDM have also been reported in the Mandalay, Magwe, and Naypyitaw regions and Shan State, but their attempts failed after local residents intervened.

On Thursday, plainclothes police tried to arrest Dr. Win Marlar Kyi, assistant director of the Naypyitaw Medical Services Department in Pobba Thiri Township. However, because they did not provide a reason or did not state their identity, the community did not allow them to bring a doctor.

Lynn Letyar, a surgeon at Lashio General Hospital in northern Shan State told The Irrawaddy on Friday that most doctors from the hospital chose to return home after previously participating in protests, for fear of being arrested if seen in public.

A doctor in Mandalay, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Irrawaddy that so far, none of the doctors there have been detained, although the police are monitoring them, as they all take part in the CDM.

"I dare say that the more pressure they (the military regime) put on us, the more resistance they will face," he said.

Myanmar Polices were trying to seize CDM Doctors at Sat San Htun Hospital in Taunggyi, Myanmar. The local community came and demonstrated so, poluces dispersed the crowd by force. 4 Gunshots in the sky happened.#Feb15Coup #WhatIsHappeningInMyanmar #HumanRightsViolations pic.twitter.com/AXEfASH0OK

— Phyo Myat Pan (@PhyoMyatPan1) February 15, 2021