Difficult conditions reported at Arakan State quarantine facilities

By Khin Tharaphy Oo 05 May 2020

Khin Tharaphy Oo | DMG
5 May, Sittwe

Some people who have returned to Arakan State from Yangon and elsewhere in the country and abroad are complaining of unwelcoming conditions as they undergo mandatory 21-day facility quarantines in the state.

The government and civil society organisations have arranged food and accommodation for the returnees under facility quarantine, but Ko Nyein Chan Aung, who is passing his 21-day isolation at Sittwe’s Traditional Medicine Hospital, said the rice they have to eat is as hard as the grain in its uncooked form.

“We feel like we are being detained, not like being provided healthcare,” he said.

Ko Nyein Chan Aung added that those in quarantine have been told they can purchase food from outside the facilities if they so choose, but he noted that this is not possible if they don’t have a friend or family member beyond the quarantine confines to help them.

Previously, returnees coming from outside Arakan State were told to undergo quarantine in their respective townships, but the state government amended that plan, ordering that all travellers entering Arakan State as of April 25 be quarantined in Sittwe, according to the Arakan Humanitarian Coordination Team.

Separation within the facilities is not well maintained, according to Ko Nyein Chan Aung, who said four men are placed in a room at the Traditional Medicine Hospital, but people from other rooms are visiting.

DMG asked the Sittwe Township administrator about conditions at the Arakan State capital’s quarantine facilities, but he declined to comment.

In addition to the Traditional Medicine Hospital, 21-day quarantine facilities in Sittwe Township include a training school for the development of border area youths and a nursing school.

In Kyaukphyu Township, returnees are placed in a building used by the local Education College, where accommodation difficulties are being reported.

“We all are staying together. There are no bed sheets and we have to sleep on the bedstead. No blanket or mosquito net either,” said Ko Naing Phyo Wai.

U Thet Lwin, leader of a Kyaukphyu youth charity group, said the government did not supply anything recently, so his organisation is providing for people under quarantine as much as they can.

“In the beginning, the government provided some assistance for people under quarantine. But it has not provided since April 26,” he said.

The charity group is collecting donations in the town to provide food and other provisions for people under quarantine.

A total of 3,875 people are placed under quarantine in Arakan State, according to a statement posted on May 3 by Rakhine Breaking News Page, the semi-official Facebook account of the state government for coronavirus-related matters.