Urgent support needed for COVID-19 patients in Cikha

28 May 2021 – Patients of COVID-19 currently being treated at the station hospital in Cikha, an Indian-Myanmar border town in Tozang Township, are facing challenges as the hospital does not have enough facilities and resources.

At least ten out of 25 new cases confirmed in the town are being isolated and treated at the 16-bedded hospital where most of the health workers had gone on strike since the coup in February 2021.

Some of the urgent facilities needed included electric generators, oxygen cylinders and concentrators and nebulizers, according to local sources.

One of the health workers said on condition of anonymity that some oxygen cylinders had needed refilling and that the nearest place it could be done was Tedim town.

The health worker added that it had been ‘community spread’ and some patients had already recovered as they had only minor symptoms.

According to local sources, the military council flew two military medical doctors out of Cikha by a chopper on 26 May to attend to urgent situations at the Hakha General Hospital.

It was reported that the military doctors were flown to Hakha to look after soldiers seriously injured and being treated at the Hakha hospital.

Since 12 March, the military evicted, without prior warnings, patients and health staff going on strike and have started occupying hospitals across Chin State.

“We heard that people in Cikha are in a very difficult and dangerous situation. But it is a huge challenge for us to find ways to provide necessary support as the roads are blocked an checked by the military security forces and most of active youth members are being targeted for arrests,” said one of youth leaders in Tedim.

On 19 May in Tedim, a 28-year-old female patient died allegedly from COVID-19 at about 1pm, the first report of COVID-19-related fatality since the military coup in February. The Tedim Civil Society Support team reminded residents to take precautionary measures to prevent themselves from the virus.

Others feared that it might be the military plans to distract people from the current political situation.

Last week in Falam, four individuals who stayed in the hospital’s quarters tested COVID-19 positive, according to the General Hospital.

Chin State saw the first case of COVID-19 in Myanmar in March 2020, with a male patient from the US in Tedim Township. – Reporting by Thawng Zel Thang.