Human rights groups blast Myanmar junta for its continuing attacks on health workers despite devastating quake

Mizzima

Human Rights Watch (HRW) together with Physicians for Human Rights issued a news release on 28 April documenting the impact of the Myanmar junta’s attacks on health workers and hospitals since the 2021 coup and the effect on responses to the devastating 28 March earthquake. A month has passed since the quake and the junta continues to block access to lifesaving assistance in resistance-held areas and during military operations.

The text of HRW’s press release continues below.

The junta’s arrests and prosecutions of over 872 health workers affiliated with the anti-coup movement and the closing of private hospitals that hire them has drastically reduced healthcare operations in quake-affected areas. The military and associated forces have attacked at least 263 healthcare facilities and killed at least 74 health workers since the coup, according to Insecurity Insight, a Swiss nongovernmental organization.