Myanmar regime bombs Kachin ‘jungle hospital’ three times in one week

A hospital in Kachin State’s Mohnyin Township that provides vital healthcare to displaced people was targeted by airstrikes three times last week, according to the doctor who runs the facility. On Thursday, Dr. Soe Min wrote on Facebook that Myanmar’s military attacked the hospital near Indawgyi Lake on April 22, 24, and 26. While there was some damage to the hospital, no one was injured, he wrote. The hospital, which treats over 1,000 malaria patients monthly, has had to temporarily close due to the airstrikes, he added. “There are also four or five people who come to get TB medication every month, and patients who receive cancer treatments. Now all of those patients are in trouble,” Dr. Soe Min wrote. In April, three columns of junta troops began advancing north through Mohnyin Township to the jade-mining town of Hpakant, which is controlled by anti-regime forces led by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). To support these columns, the junta’s air force has been dropping bombs on villages and other sites in the area, including Dr. Soe Min’s hospital. The columns, with a total of around 1,000 soldiers, continue to engage in intense battles with the joint forces of the KIA and the Kachin People’s Defence Force, according to reports. Fierce clashes also continue southeast of Mohnyin near the town of Bhamo, which KIA-led forces have been trying to capture for several months. In his Facebook post, Dr. Soe Min noted that the regime routinely bombs “forest hospitals” in resistance-controlled areas of Sagaing Region and Chin and Karenni (Kayah) states, forcing them to relocate and rebuild. Dr. Soe Min, 58, was a surgeon at Yangon General Hospital until the military seized power in 2021. Like many other public employees, including healthcare workers, he resisted the takeover by joining the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). Dr. Soe Min in an empty ward at Yangon General Hospital eight days after the February 1, 2021, coup (Photo: Dr. Soe Min / Facebook) Many CDM healthcare workers forced to flee arrest by the regime provide medical services to locals in resistance-held areas. Dr. Soe Min established a hospital in the forests of Kachin State to provide free services and train healthcare staff. “We can supply medicine and equipment to the hospitals and clinics that we’re responsible for. We’re also training soldiers to become reliable combat medics on the frontlines,” Dr. Soe Min wrote in a social media post. Due to frequent airstrikes in the area, hospital staff and patients often have to hide in bomb shelters. When the attacks are over, rescue workers search for victims and take them to the hospital for treatment. As a further precaution, the hospital’s reception area, X-ray room, patient wards, and operating room are all located some distance apart to ensure that they cannot all be destroyed at once. “The safety of our team members is the priority. Our exact location cannot be leaked,” he wrote in a post published in August of last year. Following last week’s airstrikes, he suggested that the regime appears to be specifically targeting him. “The aircraft didn’t just target our operating room. They also dropped two more bombs near the old hospital and fired in bursts. They’re attacking all over, like they just want me to die, wherever I am,” he wrote. Dr. Soe Min has written extensively about his experiences while providing free medical services to Kachin locals. One series of humorous articles, titled “Jang-Geum’s Camp,” has 338 instalments. These serialized articles are available on YouTube—the first 210 articles presented by someone else, and the rest by Dr. Soe Min himself. Now, while healthcare services are suspended, he said he would continue his writing. He also vowed not to flee abroad for security.

Myanmar regime bombs Kachin ‘jungle hospital’ three times in one week

The attacks have forced the hospital, run by the renowned CDM surgeon Dr. Soe Min, to temporarily suspend operations

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