Remote Ponnagyun Twsp area faces medicine shortages

By Admin 07 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
7 April 2024, Ponnagyun

Thousands of locals and people displaced by fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) in Tawphyarchaung, a remote area in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township, are reportedly facing difficulties in health matters.

Rural healthcare centres and groceries in the Tawphyarchaung area have run out of medicine due to travel restrictions and transportation barriers during the latest fighting, locals said.

“People with diabetes and high blood pressure have a harder time due to the shortage of medicines. Even if the locals get sick and cough, there is no medicine to drink,” said U Than Tun, a resident of Thinponetan Village.

With temperatures rising due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, the residents of Arakan State have become more prone to illnesses such as fever, cough and diarrhoea.

Children and the elderly are more likely to fall ill due to the hot weather, and are more vulnerable to heatstroke.

“During these days, both children and adults get sick due to excessive heat. I want to drink rehydration salt, but I can’t buy it. If the local residents have a health emergency, they are worried,” said a resident of Hsinthel Village.

Thousands of local people from villages along the upper reaches of Tawphyarchaung such as Hsinthel, Hsinphyutaung, Aurama, Khwethae, Thinpone, Aungmyekon, Parpway and Chaungpauk rely on Poeshweepyin Village for emergency health matters.

Local people go to a rural healthcare centre in Poeshweepyin Village by boat in case of emergency and the rise in fuel prices is also a challenge.

“If we go by boat from our village to a rural healthcare centre in Poeshweepyin Village, it takes five hours. Now that a litre of petrol is K15,000, a trip to the clinic costs over K100,000. The cost of medicine for one patient may cost from K200,000 to almost K300,000. Medicines are also expensive. So when we are sick, we rely on traditional medicine,” said Daw Hla May, a local woman in Khwethae Village.

Residents from villages in the Tawphyarchaung area of Ponnagyun Township face difficulties in accessing education and healthcare due to poor mobile phone and internet access, and travel barriers.

Local people in Arakan State face shortages of food, medicine and fuel due to the junta’s blockading of roads since the latest hostilities began in mid-November.