Myanmar doctors stop work to protest coup as UN considers response

(Reuters) -Staff at 70 hospitals and medical departments in 30 towns across Myanmar stopped work on Wednesday to protest against the coup that ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the newly formed Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement said.

A statement from the group said the army had put its own interests above a vulnerable population facing hardships during the coronavirus pandemic. The virus has killed more than 3,100 people in Myanmar, one of the highest tolls in Southeast Asia.

“We refuse to obey any order from the illegitimate military regime who demonstrated they do not have any regards for our poor patients,” said a statement from the protest group.

Four doctors confirmed they had stopped work, but did not want to be identified.

“I want the soldiers to go back to their dorms and that’s why we doctors are not going to hospitals,” one 29-year-old doctor in Yangon told Reuters. “I don’t have a time frame for how long I will keep on this strike. It depends on the situation.”

Student and youth groups have also joined the civil disobedience campaign.

Reuters was unable to reach the government for comment on the doctors’ action.

The army seized power on Monday, cutting short an unsteady transition to democracy on the grounds of fraud in last November’s general election, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won in a landslide.

The coup drew condemnation from the United States and other Western countries as the ruling generals detained Suu Kyi and dozens of other officials.

U.N. CONSIDERS RESPONSE

The latest coup is a massive blow to hopes the impoverished country of 54 million people was on the path to stable democracy.

At the United Nations, the world body’s Myanmar envoy Christine Schraner Burgener urged the Security Council to “collectively send a clear signal in support of democracy in Myanmar”.

The council is negotiating a possible statement that would condemn the coup, call for the military to respect the rule of law and human rights, and immediately release those unlawfully detained, diplomats said. Consensus is needed in the 15-member council for such statements.

But a diplomat with China’s U.N. mission said it would be difficult to reach consensus on the draft statement and that any action should avoid “escalating the tension or further complicating the situation.”