Medicine shortages reported in Arakan State

By Admin 11 Dec 2023

DMG Newsroom
11 December 2023, Sittwe

Medicine shortages have been reported in rural parts of Arakan State and some people with chronic diseases are facing difficulties as it has been nearly one month since the regime blockaded land and water routes on November 13.

“The doctor ordered me to take the medicine for three months. I fled to a safer place from Sittwe due to political instability. I can’t find medicine, and my disease is getting worse,” said a displaced woman from Sittwe.

Rural healthcare centres, which are mainly relied on by rural people, are also in short supply of medicines, or the clinics are closed. For these populations, it is not convenient to go to the township Department of Public Health office to receive the vaccines that are regularly administered to pregnant women and infants.

Chronically ill patients in rural areas say they are suffering from shortages of the medicines they take regularly.

“We cannot buy medicine. We mainly need inhalers and life-saving medicine. If we don’t have medicine, we will be in a lot of trouble,” said a woman with heart disease in Khwasone Village, Mrauk-U Township.

Urban areas have not yet faced a complete depletion of their medicine stocks, but residents say that they are buying the remaining medicines at twice the usual price. The junta’s security checkpoints in Arakan State do not allow local people to transport medicine.

“Some chronic patients have medications that they take all the time. Some chronic patients always need blood thinners and diabetes medications,” said a pharmacy owner in Taungup. “Patients with chronic diseases are having a hard time not being able to buy medicine. The junta’s security checkpoints do not allow the people of Arakan to transport medicine.”

Human rights activists say the regime should allow the unhindered transportation of medicine on humanitarian grounds.

Local people in Arakan State rely on mainland Myanmar for consumer goods such as medicines, food and fuel, and hundreds of trucks are currently stranded in townships such as Ann and Thandwe due to the junta’s blockade.