Friday, November 8, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

DVB Debate: Burmacare – developing the healthcare system in Burma

Posted: 08 Nov 2013 04:03 AM PST

This week's DVB Debate raises the issue of public healthcare in Burma.

On the panel this week are: retired director of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Khin Maung Lwin; former World Health Organization consultant Prof. Myint Myint Khin; and from Pun Hlaing hospital, Prof. Myint Maung Maung. Special guests include Medical coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres, Dr. Khin Nyein Chan; director of the Traditional Medicine Department from the Ministry of Health, Kyaw Soe; and Australian emergency services specialist, Dr. Antony Chenhall.

"The leaders of this country have never thought about the future of the country before. They need to start planning ahead if things are to improve," said retired medical professor Myint Myint Khin to applause of approval.

Prof. Myint Maung Maung agreed: "As long as the death of mothers, infants and children continues at a high rate, then this signifies low development in public healthcare."

Myint Myint Khin said that it's up to the Ministry of Health to educate people about healthcare. Khin Maung Lwin agreed they need to improve people's knowledge about self-care and hygiene, but said that even though the government has increased the budget for education with regard to health, it's still too low.

"There has been some progress, but much more needs to be done within the government's health program”, said  Dr. Khin Maung Lwin. “The budget is $14 a year per person according to the government's data, but actually it is even less than that.”

Education is made harder by advertisements for medicines such as liver pills, which imply to customers that they can binge drink and still be healthy. Also, there are quacks and charlatans who claim to have traditional medicines that can cure HIV, causing sick people to spend all their money on useless potions.

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Audience member Aung Myat Thu spoke of the time he was injured in a car accident. He is now permanently disabled after waiting at a hospital for several days without treatment because he could not provide payment on the spot. Special guest Dr. Anthony Chenhall from Australia emphasized the need for proper emergency care.

"The case with the gentleman with the injured foot I think really speaks to a lot of the problems”, he said. “I'm not sure of how he got from the accident site to the hospital, but I know there are no functioning emergency ambulance services – when you arrive at the hospital, there is really not a functioning emergency department, I heard it's more difficult if you don't come with a family member."

To sum up, Myint Myint Maung stressed that not only do the emergency cases need attention, but that general practitioners and after-care service are also very important matters.

"Duties of family doctors; providing referrals and aftercare to follow up treatment by specialists, are also very important. So in regard to their role – in today's discussion and redeveloping the healthcare system – while there are necessities for pretty much everything, the most important things are; the government's commitment and implementation, and to commission family doctors; who are known as ‘general practitioners’ or ‘primary physicians’.

Despite different perspectives, the panelists generally agreed that the problem is not the quality of the care itself, but the lack of an implemented plan on the part of the government.

Next week, DVB Debate discusses the Burmese economy.

You can join the debate and watch the full programme in Burmese at www.dvbdebate.com

Or share your views with us by commenting on our website at www.dvb.no

Burma fuelling ‘record high’ meth seizures in Asia: UN

Posted: 08 Nov 2013 01:16 AM PST

Burma continues to be the primary source of methamphetamine type stimulants (ATS) in East and Southeast Asia, contributing to record high seizures in 2012, the UN said on Friday.

In its annual report of methamphetamine-based substances, the UN Office for Drugs and Crime noted that drug seizures in Burma had more than tripled to 18 million pills since 2011.

It is the fifth consecutive year that meth seizures have increased in the region, reaching 227 million pills in total or a seven-fold increase since 2008.

Most of Burma's drugs are believed to be produced in eastern Shan state, including the Kokang special region which has long been associated with the methamphetamine and heroin trade.

"Myanmar [Burma] continues to be a major source of methamphetamine pills, crystalline methamphetamine, opium and heroin in Southeast Asia," said the report. "Significant amounts of methamphetamine originating from Myanmar continue to be seized in neighbouring countries."

Around 90 percent of the meth seized in Thailand came from Burma, even though the Burmese government dismantled its first-ever meth laboratories in the Kokang region in January 2012.

Nearly 2,000 arrests for meth-related offences were recorded in Burma in 2012, more than doubling since 2008. The surge in meth seizures corresponds with a series of democratic reforms taking place in Burma, which has led to multiple ceasefires being struck between the government and ethnic minority rebels in Shan state.

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The remote and mountainous terrain bordering Thailand and China has long been home to a flourishing trade of narcotics, funding decades of conflict between ethnic rebel groups and government-backed militias.

Growing domestic demand has also contributed to a rise in drug-related arrests, said the report. But it warned that most drug addicts in Burma – which number between 300,000-400,000 according to government figures – do not have access to effective treatment.

"Most drug users do not seek treatment voluntarily, and there are no treatment facilities in the country that are capable of providing evidence-based treatment and specifically focus on ATS dependency," said the report.

Although heroin and opiates remain the primary drugs ingested in Burma, the data indicates that use is declining. However, the total area of opiate cultivation reached its highest level since 2002, increasing by 17 percent to 51,000 hectares in 2012. The potential opium production was placed at 690 tons, with an estimated 300,000 households involved in cultivation.

The report also blamed rising demand in other Asian countries as well as growing regional integration for the increase in drug-related arrests and seizures. The ecstasy market has experienced a "resurgence" in Asia along with the spread in other psychoactive substances, according to the data.

The main Asian markets for Burmese-made methamphetamine drugs are believed to be India, Malaysia and Singapore. China remains the largest heroin market, with some 90 percent of seizures coming from Burma. 

Civic groups take positive signs from Myitkyina talks

Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:50 PM PST

Several civic groups affiliated with ethnic groups in eastern Burma have said that the peace talks held earlier this week in Myitkyina between a Burmese government delegation and a loose coalition of armed ethnic groups produced positive signs and bode well for future rounds of negotiations.

"I see several positive signs from the meeting and we are surely delighted to see peace efforts starting to take shape," said Mya Aye of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society. "We [88 Generation] view the main issue as the constitution, which must be amended in order to provide equal ethnic rights."

Khon Ja, a representative of the Kachin Peace Network, said her group did not expect much from the peace talks, which involved delegations from 16 ethnic groups. "However, we are delighted to see unity among the ethnic armed groups, and their decision to work together in a collective effort is more prevailing than working individually," she said.

Under the umbrella alliance of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) – which involves most of the major ethnic rebel forces in the country, including the Arakan Liberation Party, the Chin National Front, the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, the Kachin Independence Organisation, the Karen National Union, the Karenni National Progressive Party, the New Mon State Party and the coalition United Nationalities Federal Council – the ethnic delegates came to an agreement with the government team that steps should proceed towards establishing: a nationwide ceasefire; a framework for political dialogue; and the facilitation of political dialogue.

Speaking to DVB on Tuesday after the conclusion of the two-day talks, the secretary of the Association of Shan Literature Scholars, Sai Hseng Pe, said, "I think peace is not too far away if all groups abide by the decisions agreed by the key actors at the meeting.

"I am now almost 60 years old – the civil war has been raging for over 50 years," he said. "Now I just want to have peace in my country."

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Eugene, the special advisor to the Karenni Literature and Culture Committee, echoed his Shan counterpart's sentiment. "I believe that our country can only become developed when there is peace," he said. "Based on what I saw on the news, I am quite satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. I believe the peace efforts will prevail."

The UN's special adviser on Burma, Vijay Nambiar, who was an observer at the talks, released a statement on 5 November saying he "was encouraged by the constructive spirit that characterised the deliberations and by the fact that so many groups have been able to come together on a common platform for their dialogue with the government."

He added that the commitment shown by all parties to bring peace to the country "was particularly commendable".

Speaking to DVB reporter Aye Nai on Tuesday after the meeting in Myitkyina, Lt-Gen Myint Zaw, one of the leading delegates representing the government, emphasised that the Burmese army had made concessions in a bid to help the peace process move forward.

However, not every reporter in Myitkyina viewed the negotiations in such a positive glow. The Irrawaddy reporter Saw Yan Naing noted that no press conference had been held at the end of the second day, and said that "obstacles" lay ahead.

In his report, he wrote that the ethnic leaders proposed that an army be formed based on a federalist system, combining all Burma's ethnic groups. Quoting sources at the meeting, Saw Yan Naing said that the government delegation disagreed with such a proposal and would continue to back a "one nation, one national armed forces" policy.

The Irrawaddy report quoted a Shan army spokesman for the Restoration Council of Shan State saying that any plan for a nationwide ceasefire agreement would take some time while ethnic leaders considered the government's draft proposal.

Both sides have agreed to sit down for another round of talks in Karen state capital Hpa-an in December.

EU may be breaching Burma arms embargo, say activists

Posted: 07 Nov 2013 05:43 PM PST

The European Union could be breaching its embargo against Burma by providing riot gear to the Burmese police force as part of a new training programme, campaigners have warned.

Activists have called on the EU to come clean about the nature of the training, especially relating to the provision of equipment, which they say could be used to target peaceful protestors and ethnic minorities.

"Protective equipment including anti-riot helmets and anti-riot shields are listed in the EU arms embargo, which bans any equipment that might be used for internal repression," Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) told DVB.

"The EU needs to provide more information to explain why the export of this equipment does not break the embargo."

It follows a report in Burmese state media, which claimed that a new EU-funded training programme, costing €10 million (US$13.5 million), will be used to provide strategic advice and riot gear for Burma's notoriously brutal police force.

The training is being carried out at the request of President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who led an investigation into a bloody crackdown on peaceful protestors at the Latpadaung copper mine last year.

But the news immediately rang alarm bells among civil society groups who say that police accountability must take priority.

“Given the historic role the police force has had of repressing and cracking down on the people of Burma, the EU is playing with fire," Khin Ohmar, Coordinator of Burma Partnership, told DVB.

"There has never been an independent investigation into abuses by the police force, whether relating to the crackdown on the Latpadaung protestors in November 2012 or any other case."

Suu Kyi's investigation into the Latpadaung crackdown drew widespread condemnation for allegedly "white-washing" the crimes of police officers, who hurled phosphorous bombs at unarmed protestors, leaving dozens with third-degree burns.

The head of the EU's delegation to Burma, Roland Kobia, reportedly said the training would educate police officers on transparency, public communication, international human rights and good practice standards.

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But when contacted by DVB on Thursday, the EU's office in Rangoon refused to comment, saying only that the training material was still "being developed". They would not confirm whether riot gear would be provided or address allegations that it could violate the EU's arms embargo, which has been in place since 1996.

The EU and western countries are increasingly re-engaging with Burma, which is emerging from decades of military dictatorship and economic isolation. The UK, the US and Australia have all offered training to the Burmese army, despite accusations that it could fuel conflicts in the country's ethnic minority territories.

The European bloc has also come under fire for a perceived failure to include civil society voices in its re-engagement with the military regime.

"The EU needs to re-balance its work in Burma," said Roberts. "At present it is prioritising a partnership with the military-backed government in Burma but failing to deliver on its commitment to support and include civil society."

"By providing riot control equipment and training, the EU risks developing a security force that is more efficient at repression.”

The Burmese police force has been implicated in several atrocities over the past few months, including violent crackdowns on peaceful protestors. In April, video footage emerged which showed police officers standing idly by as a Muslim man was burned to death during religious riots in Meikhtila.

The police have also been implicated in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in western Burma.

Khin Ohmar insisted that a "deep-rooted" culture of impunity lies at the heart of the problem.

"There are no reliable legal remedies or compensation [mechanisms] for the people who have been the target of police brutality. The EU is neglecting this core need for justice and rule of law.”
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