Doctors Without Borders (MSF) expelled from Myanmar

[DagonKhan]

Doctors Without Borders expelled from Myanmar

By MARGIE MASON

AP Medical WriterFebruary 28, 2014

YANGON, Myanmar — Doctors Without Borders has been kicked out of Myanmar after two decades of caring for sick people in one of the world's poorest countries, in a decision the group said Friday risks tens of thousands of lives.

The government defended its decision, accusing the group of creating tensions and instability in violence-scarred Rakhine state, where it has faced repeated protests for treating members of the long-persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.

"Today for the first time in MSF's history of operations in the country, HIV/AIDS clinics in Rakhine, Shan and Kachin states, as well as Yangon division, were closed and patients were unable to receive the treatment they needed," the group said in a statement, using the French acronym for its name.

As one of the nation's biggest providers of HIV drugs, supplying treatment to 30,000 people, the group said it was "deeply shocked by this unilateral decision." It also gives life-saving medicine to 3,000 tuberculosis patients. Even small treatment disruptions can lead to drug-resistant strains that are more difficult and expensive to fight.

A confidential document dated Feb. 26 said Myanmar's presidential office ordered Doctors Without Borders registration "to be cancelled." Presidential spokesman Ye Htut told 7 Day daily on Friday that the contract had been cancelled nationwide.

The spokesman criticized the aid group in the Myanmar Freedom newspaper for hiring "Bengalis," the term the government uses for Rohingya.

He also accused it of misleading the world about the attack last month in remote northern Rakhine, cut off to almost all foreigners, including journalists and aid workers. The United Nations says more than 40 Rohingya may have died, but the government has vehemently denied allegations that a Buddhist mob rampaged through a village, killing women and children. It says one policeman was killed by Rohingya and no other violence occurred.

Ye Htut was quoted by the independent media outlet, the Democratic Voice of Burma, as saying that Doctors Without Borders claimed it had treated victims with gunshot and slash wounds. But he questioned that, saying the group refused to arrange a meeting between the government and the patients.

"We see that their activities, instead of offering assistance in the region, are fuelling tensions and are detrimental to the rule of law," he said.

Doctors Without Borders said it treated 22 injured and traumatized Rohingya.

Repeated attempts to reach Ye Htut for comment were unsuccessful Friday.

Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million, only recently emerged from a half-century of military rule. Since then, deep-seated ethnic tensions have swept Rakhine state and several other regions, killing up to 280 people and forcing tens of thousands more to flee their homes. Most of the victims have been Rohingya, chased down by Buddhist-led mobs. The United States and others are worried that democratic reforms made in the last three years are being rolled back.

Since the violence erupted in June 2012, Doctors Without Borders has provided care in northern Rakhine, home to more than 1 million Rohingya, and they are also present in more than a dozen camps for the displaced people elsewhere in the state. For many of the sickest patients, the organization offers the best and sometimes only care, because traveling outside the camps for treatment in local Buddhist-run hospitals can be dangerous and expensive. The aid group has worked to help smooth the referral process for emergency transport from some camps.

Due to increasing threats and intimidation from Rakhine Buddhists, Doctors Without Borders has said its activities have been severely hampered and that it has not received enough government support.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning group said it was unable to provide primary health care to those displaced by the ongoing crisis and in isolated villages and that no other organization operates in the area on the same scale, including providing emergency treatment along with assistance for pregnant women and newborn babies.

Former Maine congressman Tom Andrews, who visited camps in Rakhine state this week, called the government's decision "outrageous."

He said the aid group has been "found guilty of telling the truth about attacks against the Rohingya last month. For this, the lives of tens of thousands of desperate people have been put at risk."

Since 1992, Doctors Without Borders has filled a gap in Myanmar's neglected and woefully underfunded health sector where tuberculosis is at nearly triple the global rate as multi-drug resistant forms of the disease surge. It remains one of the hardest places in the world to access HIV drugs, which are given to only the sickest people. It was unclear how patients barred from the group's clinics would continue receiving medicine.

Many of the country's 1.3 million Rohingya — identified by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world — have been living in the country for generations, but the government insists they are here illegally. Almost all have been denied citizenship, rendering them stateless. Systematic and discriminatory policies limit their freedom of movement, access to health care, right to worship and have children.

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Associated Press writer Robin McDowell contributed to this report.

Link to original story:- http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2014/02/28/2851345/aid-group-told-to-leave-troubled.html

Gov’t to terminate MSF contract in Rakhine Published on Thursday, 27 February 2014 22:45

The Myanmar government will end its agreement with Doctors without Borders (MSF) barring the international NGO to continue its operations in Rakhine state, according to local government sources.

Rakhine nationals staged a protest against MSF in Rakhine State for four days between February 22 and 25 claiming that the organisation was biased in reporting incidents of sectarian violence in Du Chee Yar Tan village.

“A source from Ministry of Home Affairs said they will terminate the MoU with MSF. The termination process will be done with the department of health. The Ministry of Home Affairs sent the official letter to the Rakhine state government,” said Hla Thein, who is with the Rakhine state government.

Protestors have said they will continue to strike protest until MSF leave saying that they are not satisfied with the NGO’s interference in the Du Chee Yar Tan village and its biased views towards Bengalis.

“We assume that MSF is creating problems to manipulate conflicts. What we are protesting is for the stability of Rakhine state. The people didn’t want them to be here,” said protestor Nyo Aye.

I rather suspect the second story is more accurate when they report that MSF have been barred from Rakhine state and not Myanmar as a whole as the first story suggests. If indeed it turns out to be true that they have been barred from Myanmar as a whole then this will no doubt turn out to be a major blow to those who reply on their TB/HIV treatment. In Hlaing Tharyar alone they have a few clinics purely dedicated to that, without them I seriously fear for those who are sick.

What were MSF thinking telling people about what was going on? Of all the NGO's here they've been here pretty much the longest, they should have known better.

Edited February 28, 2014 by DagonKhan

[DagonKhan]

Yangon (AFP) - Medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday said the Myanmar government had ordered it to suspend all its activities in the country, halting vital healthcare to thousands of people.

MSF, which provides primary healthcare in strife-torn western Rakhine state as well as HIV and tuberculosis treatments across the country, said the move would have a "devastating effect" on its patients.

"MSF is deeply shocked by this unilateral decision and extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of patients currently under our care across the country," the group said in a statement, adding it was in discussions with the government to resume services.

It said that clinics across the country were closed Friday for the first time in the aid group's 22-year history in the country.

"There is no other medical non-government organisation that operates at the scale of MSF with the experience and infrastructure to deliver necessary life-saving medical services," MSF said.

Myanmar's health service has been left in tatters after decades of underfunding during a military dictatorship that was replaced by a quasi-civilian regime in 2011.

MSF, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, is the largest provider of treatment for HIV and AIDS in Myanmar, with over 30,000 patients across the country.

It provides primary healthcare services in several remote areas near the border with Bangladesh where impoverished stateless Rohingya Muslim communities live under severe restriction of movement.

MSF has faced increasing pressure in recent weeks after it said it treated injured people in its clinic near the site of a reported mass killing of Rohingya that was strongly denied by the government.

The organisation, which has faced accusations of giving preferential treatment to the stateless Rohingya, said it "guided by medical ethics and the principles of neutrality and impartiality".

MSF also has programmes for the treatment of tuberculosis and malaria as well as reproductive health services.

- Call for humanitarian access -

The United States Embassy in Yangon called for free humanitarian access in the former junta-ruled nation earlier Friday.

"The United States encourages (Myanmar) to continue to work with the international community to provide humanitarian assistance to communities in need and to ensure unfettered access for humanitarian agencies, in accordance with international standards," it said.

"Free, regular, and open access is essential to ensure the benefits of humanitarian activities are delivered appropriately to all people of Rakhine State."

MSF has halted work in Rakhine state since Wednesday because its operating licence has expired, regional government spokesman Win Myaing told AFP earlier, adding the group "might resume their work again".

He denied the move was connected to recent protests against the aid group.

Rakhine remains tense after several outbreaks of inter-communal violence between Buddhist and Muslim communities since 2012 that have killed scores and displaced 140,000 people, mainly from the Rohingya minority.

The United Nations in January said it had "credible information" of a series of attacks that left dozens of men, women and children dead with the alleged involvement of police.

Myanmar, whose sweeping political reforms have been overshadowed by religious bloodshed, has vociferously denied civilians were killed but said a police officer was presumed dead after a clash.

The government has launched its own investigation into the incident, which is due to release its report imminently.

Last week the UN's rights envoy to Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, raised "serious concerns" over the impartiality of that probe.

Myanmar's government considers the estimated 800,000 Rohingya in the country to be foreigners, while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and view them with hostility.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/21757290/myanmar-suspends-aid-group-msfs-operations-in-rakhine/

[DagonKhan]

MSF ordered out of Rakhine State By Kayleigh Long | Friday, 28 February 2014

International aid group Médecins Sans Frontières has been ordered to cease operations and leave Rakhine State by the government over accusations it is biased toward Muslims in the state.

Protestors march in Sittwe calling for MSF to be ousted (AFP)

MSF was informed of the decision by Rakhine State government officials on February 26. However, it remains unclear just how their activities in other parts of the country will be affected.

Story continues here:- http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/9713-msf-ordered-out-of-rakhine-state.html

[DagonKhan]

Myanmar says Doctors Without Borders not expelled; work may stop only in Rakhine state

AIDS patient Myo Min Tun, left, 38, talks during an interview along with his AIDS patient wife Zin Mar Shwe, right, 32, at HIV/AIDS care center founded by Phyu Phyu Thin, a parliament member of Myanmar Opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party, in outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Saturday, Mar. 1, 2014. Doctors Without Borders said Friday it has been expelled from Myanmar and that tens of thousands of lives are at risk.The government defended the move Friday, accusing the organization of creating tensions and instability in violence-scarred Rakhine state, where it has faced repeated protests for treating members of the long-persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

YANGON, Myanmar - A day after Doctors Without Borders announced its expulsion from Myanmar, the government backpedaled, saying the aid organization would be allowed to resume operations everywhere but Rakhine, a state plagued by bloody bouts of sectarian violence.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning group expressed grave concern Saturday about the fate of tens of thousands of vulnerable people in the state, which is home to the country's long-persecuted minority Rohingya Muslim community. Many have been displaced by violence and are living in crowded camps, where they have little or no access to adequate health care.

They are "currently facing a humanitarian medical crisis," Doctors Without Borders said in a statement.

Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million people, has been grappling with sectarian violence since it moved from dictatorship to a nominally civilian government in 2011. Up to 280 people have been killed and more than 140,000 others forced to flee their homes, most of them Rohingya.

Doctors Without Borders, which provides care across religious, ethnic and racial lines, has come under fire for working on the behalf of the Rohingya.

It was told earlier in the week that its license was being revoked, in part because it was hiring "Bengalis," the name Myanmar's government uses to refer to Rohingya. The group also was accused of being impartial and lacking transparency.

Presidential spokesman Ye Htut said negotiations were continuing between the Ministry of Health and Doctors Without Borders about the aid agency's work in Rakhine.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/world/Myanmar+says+Doctors+Without+Borders+expelled+hints+work+stop/9567645/story.html

Edited March 2, 2014 by DagonKhan