23 of 53 station hospitals in Arakan State are without doctors: health department

By Kyaw Thu Htay 29 Dec 2020

Kyaw Thu Htay | DMG
29 December 2020, Sittwe

Several station hospitals across a majority of Arakan State’s 17 townships do not have doctors, according to Dr. Sai Win Zaw Hlaing, head of the Arakan State Department of Public Health.

Out of 53 station hospitals in Arakan State, 23 have no doctors, according to the Arakan State Department of Public Health.

“There are at least three or four township hospitals in Arakan State with only one doctor each. Not only in Arakan State; there is an inadequate ratio of doctors to patients in the whole country,” Dr. Sai Win Zaw Hlaing said.

Some station hospitals in the Arakan State townships of Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Sittwe, Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun, Myebon, Ann, Taungup, Ramree, Manaung and Kyaukphyu lack doctors.

Due to the lack of doctors in the station hospitals, people who depend on these rural medical facilities have difficulty accessing healthcare services, according to locals.

Poeshweepyin Station Hospital in Ponnagyun Township has been without a doctor for about two months, and more than 50,000 rural people from 64 villages who rely on the hospital are struggling to receive healthcare services for the time being, said U Kyaw Soe, the village administrator.

With its former doctor having moved to another area, there are only three nurses at the station hospital presently. Surgeries are not being undertaken without a doctor, leading many patients to seek procedures and other healthcare services at Sittwe General Hospital in the state capital, U Kyaw Soe added.

Poeshweepyin village-tract is remote and relies mostly on waterways as transport links, so locals are calling for a doctor to be posted at the local station hospital in the event of an emergency.