Myanmar army hospitals offer civilian treatment

YANGON, Myanmar

Myanmar military rulers on Thursday announced that its hospitals are ready to serve civilian patients in response to the rising resistance movement of health workers.

The announcement was made following a positive response to the anti-coup resistance campaign initiated by health workers including doctors.

Doctors and healthcare staff are warned to respect the code of medical ethics, according to a statement released by the Military True News Intelligence Team of the Myanmar army.

On Wednesday, doctors and nurses from about 70 public hospitals in the country announced a civil disobedience campaign, halting work to protest the military coup that took place on Monday.

"Myanmar's medical doctors, who have borne the brunt of the global pandemic of COVID-19, do not recognize the legitimacy of the military government," the striking doctors said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

"We stopped going to hospitals which are now under the illegitimate military government," it said.

"The army never cared about the public health service," said a professor at a medical university in Yangon, requesting anonymity. "They are getting frightened of our campaign, and want us to get confused and [damage] our unity," the doctor who has been at the forefront of fighting COIVD-19 in the country, told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

"They have a long history of ignoring public health services. We have seen several people die of the bad healthcare system under the military dictatorship, but they have blamed us [doctors and nurses]," she said.

"Today's military announcement is just an excuse to blame us for not taking care of the patients. It's a trick and a counter tactic," she said.​​​​​​​