Ramree Twsp residents complain of limited healthcare services and few doctors

By Admin 21 Jul 2023

DMG Newsroom
21 July 2023, Sittwe

Residents of Arakan State’s Ramree Township have called for improved access to healthcare services as the township’s 50-bed public hospital is severely understaffed.

Ramree Township is home to a population of around 100,000 people, but the township hospital has just one doctor, two dentists and some 20 nurses.

“The hospital has only one doctor, and does not have an assistant doctor. The medical superintendent does his best to take care of the patients,” said the chairman of the Rammarwaddy Blood Donors Association.

According to a standardised organisational structure, a 50-bed hospital is supposed to have six doctors including the superintendent and five assistant physicians. But in Ramree Township, patients often need to go to the public hospital in Kyaukphyu when Ramree Hospital is crowded.

“We Ramree residents want to have a reliable hospital, but Ramree Hospital has only one doctor, which is not OK for us,” said one Ramree resident.

The regime has yet to respond to local residents’ request that more doctors and nurses be assigned to the hospital.

“Every day, there are patients that need surgery, including childbirth. The problem is that when we go to the hospital for an emergency, we can’t see the doctor immediately. Other staff are not qualified to make a decision, and patients suffer as a result,” said a Ramree resident.

“There are difficulties as we don’t have enough doctors,” said a healthcare worker at Ramree Hospital. “Nurses at the hospital do their best. There is only one doctor, and he needs a break from time to time.”

Dr. Zaw Zaw Aung, assistant director of the Arakan State Public Health Department, said: “There are doctors who run cottage hospitals in Ramree. Not only Ramree, but many other township hospitals have only one doctor. We have asked the Union-level authorities to assign more doctors, but there is still no response.”

There are 53 cottage hospitals in Arakan State, 23 of which do not have a doctor, according to the Arakan State Health Department.

Several hospitals across Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Sittwe, Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun, Myebon, Ann, Taungup, Ramree, Manaung and Kyaukphyu townships do not have enough doctors.

According to 2018 data, there are 70 hospitals in Arakan State including one 500-bed hospital, one 200-bed hospital, four 100-bed hospitals, eight 50-bed hospitals, four 25-bed hospitals, and 52 16-bed and cottage hospitals, along with 100 rural healthcare centres and 560 sub-rural healthcare centres. The state is supposed to have 816 doctors, according to the aforementioned standardised organisational structure, but there were only 236 doctors in 2018.