Update on Myanmar Emergency Medical Supplies & Services Fundraiser

Thank you very much to everyone who donated to our recent fundraiser!

Since the start of the Myanmar Emergency Medical Supplies & Services fundraiser, we have received over 14,000 USD through the Givebutter platform and private donations. We will also dedicate a portion of the proceeds from our art auction fundraiser to the cause as well. We are transferring funds in small batches through private channels every few weeks to the underground physician networks that actively serve people affected by the military coup in Myanmar and the Thai/Myanmar border. A list of purchased supplies can be found in Annex 1 of this report. Along with sharing how your donation was used, we’d like to offer updates on the dangerous terrain that the healthcare providers we support must navigate to care for their communities.

Myanmar’s health and the medical community were among the first civil sectors to jumpstart the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), along with garment and railroad workers, teachers, and engineers, vacating their government posts in droves in firm protest of the military takeover of the ministries. However, just as they led the CDM charge, they now lead the statistics of military retaliation against protesters. To date, Myanmar’s health sector has continued to experience violent attacks against workers, facilities, and vehicles meant to obstruct care for injured protestors by military personnel. There has also been increased harassment, targeted arrests, and killings of healthcare personnel, including students, and denial of health care for detained individuals with pressing medical needs. According to reports from the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and other reliable sources, there have been at least 109 attacks on healthcare providers From February 1 to April 12. The junta is issuing arrest warrants for any healthcare provider suspected of being affiliated with the CDM. Each day, a list of people are announced on national television and contains names of healthcare workers wanted by the military. As of April 25th, 260 Myanmar medics have active warrants out for their arrest.

As the Myanmar military continues to weaponize healthcare, it has become increasingly risky for providers and patients. Civilians are afraid to seek care, even for medical needs with no connection to the protests such as labor and chronic illness management. At the same time, medics are being threatened, abducted, and even shot while on active medical duty. These attacks on Myanmar’s healthcare sector are merely one tip of the multi-pronged crisis facing Myanmar in the wake of the military coup. The generals are ruthless in their tactics to suppress dissent, and the violence has led to a surge in people on the run to safety. Airstrikes in Eastern Kayin state have created a humanitarian crisis near the border with Thailand, where many displaced people from prior Myanmar military violence live. Fighting in Northern Kachin state has been ongoing for several years but has grown more intense since the coup.

In addition to violence from the military, a significant threat Myanmar people face is the increased prevalence of COVID-19, as cases have increased exponentially in the last two weeks in the Indian state Mizoram, which borders Myanmar. As Myanmar faces a potential new wave of infections and dwindling capacity within the country’s health system to detect spread, spikes in COVID-19 cases could compromise disease control efforts in the southeast region and globally. There is an urgent need for COVID-19 prevention and treatment supplies such as PPE and oxygen concentrators. One hundred people from Chin state in Northwestern Myanmar fled across the border to Mizoram and are now COVID positive. The total number of positive cases in Mizoram State in the last few weeks is 1,440 (of 6,339 total cases since the beginning of the pandemic). These COVID concerns come on top of immediate medical concerns sustained from violence. Some of these ethnic minorities fleeing across into Mizoram have injuries, including children with fractured bones.

Our impact

Healthcare workers have had an increasingly difficult time sourcing medical supplies. International transactions, especially ones in more significant amounts, are still under surveillance by the military. Thus we are taking every measure to ensure safety for all parties involved in monetary transactions. Myanmar kyats are hard to come by these days, and when exchanging US dollars, Thai baht, or Indian lakhs into Myanmar kyats, the exchange rate is much lower if the bills are tarnished or worn in any way. Leveraging our existing networks, we found a safe route for supplies to enter Myanmar through the Thai border. Many entry points are controlled by ethnic armed organizations instead of military soldiers.

Donations from our fundraisers purchased basic and most needed medical supplies and the cost of transportation to take them to areas near the Thai border, clinics in Yangon and Mandalay, and the much longer journey north to Kachin state.

We are in constant communication with the healthcare providers receiving the funds, who update us on the supplies and donation amounts received by each clinic. Funds were donated to 7 clinics in Karen and Kachin states (names of clinics will be kept private for safety). These clinics serve internally displaced persons (IDPs) affected by the airstrikes that burned down their homes and villages. Many families with young children and the elderly are living under tarps and in ditches. Funds are being used for both emergency medical needs and treating exacerbated chronic diseases. Additionally, they are used to purchase equipment such as portable x-rays in both Karen and Kachin states. Funds have also been used to transport medical supplies from the Thai border, which costs 3500–4000 baht for one roundtrip per vehicle. Some of the supplies are transported through waterways, and once the military even shot the supply boats. Other areas your donations reached include a clinic in Myitkyina serving wounded patients and an emergency clinic in Mandalay. Donations have been further shared with the NUG, who are also helping to distribute medical aid.

Our goals moving forward

As tensions continue to mount between the Chin ethnic army and the Myanmar military in Hakha, there are many with life-threatening injuries requiring surgery, permanent severe disablement, and minor injuries such as gunshot wounds to the limbs. In mid-March, the Myanmar military took control of Hahka general hospital to convert it into a military base and threw out the patients and staff (30 patients were critically ill). As a result, the community established an underground hospital in a church and used two mobile emergency vehicles. By mid-April, the Church hospital was forced to close by the military, and they moved to another location which also closed two weeks ago due to the risk of doctors/staff getting arrested and possibly tortured. Despite many setbacks and threats, they are continuing to provide outpatient services for 5,196 outpatients. They need resources for mobile clinics and food security for community members now on the run in the hills. Although this is the most remote part of Myanmar, and reaching it will be a challenge, we are determined to extend our support to healthcare workers in Chin state too.

Moving forward, donations will go to various locations throughout Myanmar and its borders. Especially to Chin state which borders India. Currently, the physician groups are preparing specialty medical supply packages that will be distributed throughout the country. There is a continued need for the following:

· Mobile vehicles and static undercover clinics

· Portable ultrasound machines

· Operating tables

· Surgical & First Aid equipment for roadside treatment

· Portable X-ray machines

· Fetal dopplers

· Portable Oxygen concentrators and tanks

· Lab supplies and agents

· Medications

· Funding for patient transport to larger towns with hospitals

· Petrol

· And more

Myanmar’s healthcare workers must continue providing essential medical care in the face of civil strife and a murderous adversary. As international allies of the Myanmar people, we urge you to stand in solidarity with our health professionals. Please keep up your support by raising funds for local and cross-border humanitarian aid, make noise about these urgent crises, and rally your local and state governments to do more to help Myanmar.

Annex 1: List of Medical Supplies Purchased and Delivered

• Bag Valve Masks (Ambu bags)
• Blood Administration Sets
• Stethoscopes
• Pulse Oximeters
• Cervical Collars
• Nebulizers
• Glucometers
• Oxygen Tanks
• IV Catheters
• Medications (Oral, IV, & Topical)
• Wound Supplies
• Surgical Kits
• Stainless Steel Basins
• Portable Respiratory Suction Kits
• Sterile Gowns & Sheets
• PPE
• Antiseptic Solutions
• Arm Slings
• Transportation of Medical Supplies