1 October 2026 -"Stop bombing civilians, stop bombing hospitals, and allow medical care to reach those who need it" - Dr Mark Sherlock, MSF's Medical Programmes Manager for Myanmar.
“The airstrike on Monday near a busy market in Kyauktaw, Rakhine State, was reported to have killed at least 50 people. But as a doctor, I know all too well that this number will likely rise. At least 60 other survivors, including women and children, were left maimed or severely burned. Many now require complex, life-saving trauma care that Rakhine’s health system is extremely ill-equipped to provide. \u200b
With only a few functioning hospitals remaining across central Rakhine, where many of the injured are being referred, health staff are already stretched to their limits. Every day, they are forced to adapt to shortages of everything: medicines, medical equipment, staff, and even the food needed to support patients’ recovery. Responding to a mass influx of war-wounded patients on top of this is pushing health services to the edge of collapse. I know this because, for the past five years, I have served as MSF’s Medical Programmes Manager for Myanmar. In Rakhine, as in many other conflict-affected parts of the country where MSF works, the health system is hanging by a thread. \u200b \u200b
Blast injuries, fractures, punctured lungs, internal bleeding, and severe burns all require immediate, and often specialized medical care, including emergency surgery and post-operative treatment. We understand that at least 17 patients are in critical condition. But even as these patients lie critically injured, their safety — and the safety of those caring for them — is not assured. \u200b
Despite the protections afforded to hospitals and civilian infrastructure under international humanitarian law, there have been two attacks in the past nine months on facilities once supported by MSF. In December 2025, Mrauk-U General Hospital was bombed, killing 33 people and injuring 70. In March 2026, Sittwe General Hospital was hit by shelling and its medical warehouse was destroyed. These are just two of almost 2,000 attacks on healthcare documented by Insecurity Insight in Myanmar between 2021 and 2026. \u200b
As the country’s health system continues to be torn apart by violence, what we are hearing from Rakhine today is not surprising to me. As violence intensifies, we are aware that people are becoming increasingly fearful of travelling to seek healthcare. They are being forced to weigh the risk of staying at home and delaying treatment against the risk of going to hospital, where gatherings of people may make them a target for the next attack. \u200b
Community-based activities, which include services like mobile clinics that bring healthcare closer to where people live, have been forced to reduce. Some primary healthcare centres have closed in order to avoid attracting crowds and reduce their visibility and exposure to violence. \u200b
This level of insecurity for people trying to access healthcare, and for health workers trying to provide it, cannot be accepted as normal. Healthcare must be protected — not only from attack, but also from the severe deprivation of everything a health system needs to function. Stop bombing civilians. Stop bombing hospitals. Allow life-saving medical care to reach those who need it." \u200b
-ENDS-
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