Yangon, April 6 (MExN): Local residents in Leshi Township in the Naga Self-Administered Zone (SAZ) have expressed concerns about a possible COVID-19 outbreak as the township has a serious shortage of health care workers, according to a news report.
Five residents are already being monitored for coronavirus infection, theMyanmar-based The Irrawaddy reported on April 3.
Quoting U Kyaw Htay, a Lower House lawmaker for Leshi, the report said that there is only one doctor for the two public hospitals in the township.
Apart from those two hospitals, the township has only 27 healthcare centres, all understaffed, across its 72 villages and in rural areas like Leshi, health care centres are usually run by health care assistants and midwives, it said.
“The Ministry [of Health and Sports] said that they don’t have enough fresh graduates to assign any here for the time being, but that they do have plans to fill the vacant positions,” the lawmaker added.
According to the report, Leshi borders both India and Sagaing Region’s Hkamti and Homalin townships and has a population of over 10,000 people.
“As the township is located in a remote area and is not easily accessible from other parts of the country, Leshi residents usually cross into India for education and health care services,” it said.
As per the report, the five people under investigation have returned from their studies in India. Three others returned from Singapore and have now completed home quarantine.
Township authorities have set up five checkpoints at crossings along the Indian border, where they will screen returnees for fevers and note down their addresses to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, it added.
The government has provided 40 sets of personal protective equipment and two ventilators for the township but they still need health care workers, the report informed, citing Dr Nay Aung Soe, the township’s only doctor, at Leshi Township Hospital.
Another doctor at the public hospital Lahe Township,Dr Thet Zin Aung also noted that the hospital is also in need of surgical masks and chlorine to use for disinfection. Lahe has four wards and a population of over 50,000 people but also has only two hospitals.
The Naga Self-Administered Zone is considered one of the poorest and most underdeveloped areas in Myanmar and is home to some 130,000 people with three townships—Lahe, Leshi and Namyun—and five sub-townships—Donhee, Htanparkway, Mobaingluk, Pansaung and Sonemara.
In 2016, a measles outbreak killed more than 80 people across the Naga Self-Administered Zone. The area also has the highest prevalence of malaria and tuberculosis in Myanmar, the report added.
