Elderly Residents at Kyaukphyu’s Thandar Myay Home Face Critical Food and Medicine Shortages
Elderly residents at the Thandar Myay Home for the Aged in Kyaukphyu, Arakan State—a town under Myanmar military junta control—are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance due to severe shortages of food and essential medicines, according to local sources.
The facility shelters vulnerable seniors, including those who are visually impaired, paralyzed, or chronically ill. A steep drop in private donations has left many suffering from malnutrition and untreated medical conditions.
“Junta-controlled departments have cut back on support, and private donors have almost completely disappeared,” a source close to the care home said. “With Kyaukphyu residents facing severe economic hardship, ensuring regular meals for the elderly has become extremely difficult.”
Kyaukphyu has two elderly care facilities: the Kyaukphyu Home for the Aged in Taungyin Ward and the Thandar Myay Home for the Aged in Toechel Ward.
Currently, military authorities provide official support only to the Kyaukphyu Home for the Aged. That facility opened in 2016 under the National League for Democracy administration, whereas the Thandar Myay facility was established in 2006 by local Buddhist monks and community members.
Thandar Myay Home for the Aged currently houses 14 residents aged 80 and above.
“We hope donors will support all elderly individuals without discrimination, especially those without caregivers,” a female Kyaukphyu resident said. “I urge everyone to help these grandfathers and grandmothers so they can live out their final years in peace.”
Thandar Myay previously received funding from private donors as well as the General Administration Department and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement. However, contributions plummeted following the outbreak of fighting in Kyaukphyu Township.
Amid tight military security, widespread unemployment, and severe economic distress, roughly half of Kyaukphyu Town’s population has fled to mainland Myanmar or territories controlled by the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA).
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