The Chin Health Organisation (CHO) has recently started operating mobile health clinics in the areas of Chin State’s Paletwa Township that are administered by the Paletwa Council.
The CHO was established by Chin doctors and nurses who joined the anti-coup Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and refused to work for the junta. Its mobile clinics in Paletwa Township are receiving support from the Paletwa Council’s local administration teams.
CHO's mobile clinics conduct malaria testing, provide essential malaria medications, administer cholera vaccinations and provide other healthcare.
Currently, the CHO mobile clinics only operate in the areas of Paletwa Township around Samee Town that are administered by the Paletwa Council. The rest of Paletwa Township is administered by the Arakan Army (AA).
Those areas are not currently being serviced by the CHO's mobile clinics because the CHO has insufficient resources, so more resources are needed, according to an official from an organisation helping displaced people in Paletwa Township.
He said to Chin World: “The CHO’s activities currently resemble a limited-area project. Supported by its [CHO’s] dedicated doctors and nurses it [CHO] collaborates with local public health workers to deliver medicines and healthcare in areas under the Paletwa Council’s control. However, a broader plan is essential to expand these efforts. To address the healthcare needs of all of Paletwa Township, we must tackle various demands, as the current CHO support falls short of meeting the wider range of essential services required.”
Currently, there are approximately 15,000 displaced people sheltering in Paletwa Township.
Providing aid is challenging in the township due to fighting and because it is a remote area with few transport links to the rest of Myanmar. As a result, there is a severe shortage of medicine and health workers in Paletwa Township and it urgently needs improved healthcare services, according to aid workers helping displaced people in the township.
The Paletwa Council is not allied to the AA but it has an informal agreement with the AA to provide healthcare support in AA controlled areas.
The Paletwa Chinland Defence Force (CDF) and the Interim Khumi Affairs Coordination Council (IKACC), a Paletwa based Chin political organisation, formed the Paletwa Autonomous District Council on 10 May 2023. In early April 2024 it was renamed the Paletwa Council.
