Residents of Samee town in Paletwa Township, southern Chin State, which is currently under the control of the Arakha Army (AA), are facing difficulties in accessing healthcare due to a shortage of doctors and medicine, according to local residents.
One resident of Samee said, “We have a doctor from the AA’s side in town. They treat patients at the clinic if they have medicine matching the disease. But it’s difficult because we don’t have facilities for surgery – no X-ray, no ultrasound. To be honest, they’re kind of treating blindly. There’s no electricity, nothing – the doctor can only use their stethoscope to diagnose, and medicine supplies are not enough either.”
Since taking complete control of the entire Paletwa Township on 14 January 2024, the AA has been managing administrative functions in both Paletwa and Samee towns.
In Samee, healthcare primarily relies on a single station hospital, where currently two doctors and four nurses from the AA are providing medical treatment, according to residents.
However, the Samee resident further said that there have been patient deaths due to the inability to provide timely medical treatment, resulting from insufficient doctors and medicine at the Samee station hospital.
“There have been about eight emergency deaths throughout the year. When critically ill patients arrive, even though Kyauktaw is accessible, some die halfway there. Also, in malaria cases, when treatment is delayed and blood transfusions aren’t possible, patients pass away due to delayed treatment. Samee doesn’t have many people left, though the hospital’s building and sanitation are in decent condition,” the resident said.
Though residents of Samee are buying medicine from Kyauktaw in Arakan State and from India, they face difficulties as high prices make these medications inaccessible to many, according to reports.
Samee town currently has a population of nearly one thousand, predominantly ethnic Arakanese people, while the majority of the original town residents remain displaced due to the conflict.
On 14 January, the military conducted an airstrike on the town, which resulted in the destruction of the General Administration Office in Ward 2 by fire, and the MPT telecommunications line remains down.