Myanmar upholds blockade of aid to Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or more commonly known as Doctors Without Borders, has urged the Myanmar government to allow them to provide healthcare and humanitarian aid to the northern Rakhine State where it previously treated thousands of patients every month.

In a press release issued on Friday, MSF has expressed the urgent need of humanitarian access to northern Rakhine saying, “While MSF has repeatedly requested that the Myanmar government grant it the necessary travel and activity authorizations to provide medical care to those in need, administrative red tape has made this impossible.”

MSF’s Operations Manager for Myanmar Benoit De Gryse stated, "The medical needs of the remaining Rohingya population in northern Rakhine, as well as those of ethnic Rakhine and other minorities, must be thoroughly and independently assessed.”

“The lack of sustained independent assessments in northern Rakhine means that no one has a comprehensive picture of the situation on the ground and the medical and humanitarian needs,” Benoit added.

MSF has provided healthcare to all communities in northern Rakhine since 1994. When operations were suspended on August 11, 2017, MSF was operating four primary health care clinics in northern Rakhine—three of which were subsequently burnt down—and was providing over 11,000 primary and reproductive health care consultations per month, as well as emergency transport and assistance for patients requiring hospitalization, according to the MSF website.

About 700,000 Rohingya Muslims, according to U.N. estimates, fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh after a military crackdown in August 2017 that the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing.

Refugees have reported killings, rape and arson on a large scale, but Myanmar has denied nearly all of the accusations, saying it waged a legitimate counter-insurgency operation after coming under attack from Rohingya militants.