Physician wanted at Manaung Twsp cottage hospital left doctorless for three years

By DMG 09 Oct 2021

DMG Newsroom
9 October 2021, Manaung 

Residents of more than 30 villages in Manaung Township, Arakan State, are calling for authorities to assign a doctor at the Sar Chet cottage hospital, where there has been no physician for three years. 

The doctor at the hospital was transferred elsewhere in July 2018 and residents of the nearby villages have faced healthcare difficulties ever since. 

U Khin Maung Kyaw, a resident of Sar Chet village, said more than 10,000 people from over 30 villages depend on the hospital for their healthcare needs. 

“We have demanded to assign a new doctor, but it has been nearly three years that the hospital hasn’t had a doctor. People have to go to the town if they need healthcare. It is not convenient for them,” he said. 

Villagers who are poor cannot afford to go to town for healthcare, however, while some patients have died without ever receiving treatment due to long trips to the hospital in town, one villager said. 

U Thein Tun Aung, another resident of Sar Chet village, said: “There are four workers at the hospital. And there are nurses who are from the town and are assigned at the hospital rotationally. However, they do not work well as there is no doctor. So, villagers do not want to get medical treatment there.” 

Residents said the cottage hospital’s facilities and medical equipment are becoming rundown over time and are in need of maintenance because there is no doctor to manage the hospital.