Burma: The Generals vs. the Physici

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By Cesar Chelala

Sunday, October 19, 1997; Page C09
The Washington Post 
One of the most regrettable aspects of Burma's abusive military regime is
its persecution and imprisonment of physicians. This persecution comes at
a time of continuous deterioration of health conditions in that country.
It can be anticipated that the situation will only worsen unless the
international community forces out a dictatorship that is far more
responsive to its own perverse interests than to the welfare of the
Burmese people.

Now under arrest or missing are eight physicians who are members of
parliament. It is known that three of them were given 25-year prison
sentences for attending secret meetings. One of the physicians, Dr. Aung
Khin Sint, had been awarded a literacy award in 1972 and received the
World Health Fellowship three times. He was arrested on Aug. 4, 1993, for
distributing leaflets that opposed restrictions imposed on the National
Convention. He was released on Feb. 4, 1995, rearrested on July 23, 1996,
and is still in prison. No sentence has been given, nor are family visits
allowed.

Also imprisoned is Dr. Ma Thida, the recipient of the 1996 Reebok Human
Rights Award and of the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith award, which honors writers
or journalists who have courageously defended freedom of expression. Dr.
Ma Thida is a writer and political activist who was a campaign assistant
to Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's democracy movement. In October
1993, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison for "endangering public
tranquillity, having contact with unlawful organizations, and
distributing unlawful literature." It's possible that Dr. Ma Thida was
punished for being among several physicians who treated civilians during
the pro-democracy demonstrations of 1988, and for her outspoken work for
the National League for Democracy. She is being kept at Insein prison in
Rangoon.

A report by Amnesty International reveals that Dr. Ma Thida is held in
solitary confinement, that her prison cell has little light and that she
has no access to reading materials. She has had tuberculosis, and in the
past three years has developed three ovarian tumors that require surgery.
Because of lack of access to her or to information about her health, it
is not known whether surgery has been performed to remove the tumors.
Burma's jails are mostly inaccessible not only to human rights and
humanitarian organizations but, in many cases, to the families of the
detainees as well.

It is estimated that there are 4,800 prisoners in Insein prison, most of
whom are without adequate medical attention, in conditions that Amnesty
International indicates often amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment. Also of concern is the denial of medical care for those
imprisoned or forced to act as porters for army troops in border areas.
Civilians have been repeatedly maimed or killed by land mines placed by
the military.

Physicians for Human Rights has gathered information that in the past the
Burmese security forces have violated internationally accepted principles
of medical neutrality. In addition, during periods of conflict between
the government and minority groups, health workers in border areas have
been detained for rendering medical care, and civilians in those areas
have been denied the most basic medical attention.

The need for health workers is the more pressing because AIDS is an
important public health problem in the region in general and in Burma in
particular. In 1996 it was estimated that 500,000 people in Burma had
been infected with HIV. Of an estimated 160,000 drug addicts, at least
half are said by experts to be infected with HIV. Burma's neighbors share
in the risk, as HIV infection spreads quickly along drug trade routes.
There has been a rapid expansion of the epidemic from the poppy-growing
centers of northern Thailand to neighboring areas of Burma, China, India
and Laos.

Currently, only about 65 percent of the Burmese people have access to
basic health services, which explains the poor national health
indicators. The national infant mortality rate in 1995 was 105 for every
1,000 live births, with wide regional variations in the country. This
compares with 34 in Vietnam, 27 in Thailand and 11 in Malaysia. According
to UNICEF, 1 million children are malnourished, 9 to 12 percent severely
so. The high rate of babies with birth weight below 5 1/2 pounds probably
reflects the high malnutrition levels among pregnant women.

UNICEF reports that maternal mortality rates for 1990 were an
astronomically high 580 per 100,000 live births, compared with 80 in
Malaysia and 10 in Singapore. Most maternal deaths in Burma are due to
induced abortions, largely conducted clandestinely, and to unsanitary
conditions. In addition, there is a widespread lack of essential
medications, which contributes to the poor health status of the
population.

There has been a slow but noticeable change in the international
community's stance toward Burma, which makes the goal of forcing out the
generals appear within reach. Several companies have in the recent past
pulled out of the country, while no new investments can come from
America, since President Clinton announced sanctions against the junta
last May. If that tendency gathers momentum, the worsening economic
situation may precipitate the general's downfall. It can't be too soon
for the suffering Burmese people.

The writer is a member of the International Advisory Board of Physicians
for Human Rights. 

© Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company
 
  
The Voice of Hope, by Aung San Suu Kyi with Alan Clements (Seven Stories,
$24.95). Aung San Suu Kyi may well be, as Alan Clements claims, "the
world's most famous political dissident." The daughter of Aung San, the
legendary leader of Burma's fight for independence (he was assassinated
in 1947), she officially assumed her father's mantle on Aug. 26, 1988,
when she addressed a Rangoon pro-democracy rally half-a-million strong.
"I could not," she said, "as my father's daughter, remain indifferent to
all that was going on." In 1990 elections, her National League for
Democracy party won a landslide victory; Burma's ruling military junta
immediately cracked down, imprisoning many NLD members. Aung San spent
six years under house arrest. In 1991, she won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Clements, an American who spent several years in Burma, was able to
interview Aung San shortly after her release. Their conversations,
transcribed here, focus on the continuing oppression of Burma's people,
the hardships and passions of her political work, and on more
philosophical concerns -- despair, inner strength and the nature of
happiness.