To confront growing armed resistance campaigns nationwide and an ongoing general strike by civil servants in the health sector, the military is reportedly transferring staff from its weapons production units into battle and army doctors and nurses into public hospitals.
The move follows earlier restructuring efforts by the junta forcing members of the police to “take part in the state’s defence and security affairs when necessary,” through the issuing of a new Police Force Law in late March.
A leaked military order from the same period outlined plans to use members of the fire department and the Myanmar Red Cross in the armed forces’ battles against the resistance by instructing them to form a “public security force” alongside retired army officers and police.
From factories to the frontlines
Cpt Zin Yaw, a Myanmar army officer who joined the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), told Myanmar Now on Monday that the military council was planning to bolster its frontline forces with troops who have long worked in arms factories under the control of the defence ministry.
His source was reportedly an officer still working within the No. 15 Defence Equipment Factory in Magway Region’s Aunglan Township, and that the decision was being made under the supervision of the Central Region Military Command in Mandalay.
There are some 25 defence equipment factories nationwide, with at least 10 located in townships throughout Magway. Since the February 2021 coup, the region has become the site of fierce clashes with anti-junta resistance forces.
Cpt Zin Yaw explained that each weapons factory is staffed by between 400 and 800 soldiers who have not seen active conflict in years. He speculated that many would be likely to defect rather than go to war.
“Groups are waiting on standby inside the factories along with vehicles,” he added. “They’re going to start fleeing once they get to the frontlines because they are the ones designated to produce weapons. They weren’t supposed to go to war even if a World War broke out.”
“Those people have been so pleased with themselves for not having to take part in battles. I’m sure they’re going to defect very soon,” he added.
Troops working in the No. 8 factory in Magway’s Sinbaungwe Township had been forced to wear uniforms indicating they were members of Light Infantry Division (LID) 88 since January and were on standby for “emergency military duties,” a family member of one of the soldiers told Myanmar Now on Monday.
“They now have to wear LID 88 badges. So many soldiers from LID 88 itself have defected from the army,” the family member said.
Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify the relative’s statement. The shadow National Unity Government has estimated that more than 3,000 members of the military and 7,000 police officers have defected since the coup.
The Magway-based LID 88 had been known for engaging in offensives against ethnic armed organisations, particularly in northern Shan State, prior to the coup. Since then, the LID has also been seen fighting against local defence forces in the neighbouring resistance stronghold of Sagaing Region.
Officers and troops working in the junta’s arms production units have been taken prisoner or killed by local defence forces in central Myanmar in recent months.
In early April in Magway’s Pauk Township, guerrilla forces managed to intercept a junta convoy transporting parts for artillery shells between two weapons factories in the region, capturing a captain and several soldiers. A captain and a private stationed in the No. 23 factory were also killed after being captured by resistance forces last November.
Military doctors to head general hospitals
While the shift for personnel in arms factories is reportedly forthcoming, it has been underway for months in army hospitals, according to an officer under the junta’s health ministry in Naypyitaw.
The officer, who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity, said that in February and March the junta had transferred 100 military doctors and 60 nurses to public hospitals where the majority of staff had already left their jobs in solidarity with the CDM strike.
Among the reassigned staff were reportedly two lieutenant colonels, 10 majors and several captains, who will serve both as officers and as employees within the medical system, the source explained.
“The army officers were appointed either as superintendents or deputy superintendents of general hospitals or as deputy directors or assistant directors of the main office in Naypyitaw,” the junta health officer said.
Several more high-ranking officers are reportedly among another batch of staff set to be transferred by the end of April.
“They’re basically offering high-ranking positions to military medical staff because there aren’t many people left in the department of health. They’re now going to be able to enjoy both their military salaries and the privileges of working at the ministry, including access to cars, fuel, housing and phone use,” he explained. “The military is going to further persecute the CDM doctors by using their own military doctors [to fill their jobs],” he added.
Although more than 30,000 doctors graduated from Myanmar medical schools between 1995 and 2020, only around one-third are currently working in the health service, according to a statement made by coup leader Min Aung Hlaing late last year.
His junta began targeting CDM doctors after the coup, revoking the medical licenses of 14 specialists from Mandalay and pressuring private hospitals and clinics to submit patient records to the military.
Dr. Htar Htar Lin, who once headed the ousted National League for Democracy government’s Covid-19 vaccination team, was sentenced by a junta court to three years in prison for corruption on April 20, following her arrest last June.
![Resistance fighters holding heavy weapons ammunition in central Myanmar. (Photo: Freedom Revolution Force [FRF])](https://myanmar-now.org/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/04/438869056_443267851680128_1706386881626943924_n-390x220.jpeg)
