Around 15,000 Displaced people (IDPs) sheltering in Paletwa Township after fleeing from other areas in the township are struggling due to severe shortages of medicine and healthcare aid.
Around 19,000 people fled from the Samee and Paletwa towns and Kantaung Village in Paletwa Township. Of those about 4,000 have sought refuge by crossing the border into India’s Mizoram State.
The remaining 15,000 have sought refuge in other calmer villages in Paletwa Township. It is these IDPs that are facing problems.
The Indian authorities banned goods going from Mizoram to Paletwa Township in July 2024. But, despite the ban, medicine was still able to get through from India to due unofficial understandings at the border. Unfortunately those unofficial channels for importing medicine were closed in September and since then it has been impossible to get any medicine from India to Paletwa Township.
This has lead to the shortage of medicine in Paletwa Township and caused unnecessary deaths that could have been prevented had the correct medicine been available, according to Salai Soe Than, an official with the Paletwa IDPs and Humanitarian Support aid organisation.
He said: “Some deaths were avoidable; they lost their lives due to the lack of medicine. Children and elderly people have died under these circumstances. With medicine in short supply and unavailable for purchase, these situations have almost become a grim norm.”
To make the situation worse there are no longer any health workers remaining in the region and hospitals cannot operate normally, he added.
He said: “Medicines are inadequate for war-displaced people, and there are no hospitals or clinics to visit. Transportation is also extremely difficult, making it hard to move patients. As a result, we are facing deaths that could have been avoided. Some died from infections caused by a lack of medicine after being hit by landmines. Given all the circumstances, the need for medicine is the most urgent issue in Paletwa Township right now.”
Before the coup, residents of Mindat Township could receive medicine, food and goods from inside Myanmar. Medicines would come from Pakkoku Township in Magway Region via the Chin State towns of Mindat and Matupi or from Arakan (Rakhine) State. But the flow of goods from these routes has completely halted meaning that the residents of Paletwa were reliant on medicine and food coming from India.
The 4,000 refugees who fled from Paletwa Township to Mizoram are also facing difficulties. A Myanmar refugee sheltering in Mizoram State said: “The longer the revolution lasts, the more difficult people's livelihoods will become, and the scarcity of basic food and medicine is likely to worsen. Therefore, I urge international organisations, donors, and neighbouring countries to provide support and assistance to the displaced people.”
Most of the people displaced from their homes in Paletwa Township still do not dare return to their homes due to the threat of junta airstrikes and conscription drives being carried out in the area by the Arakan Army (AA) and Chin resistance forces. Some of the IDPs who fled from Paletwa Town had actually been displaced from their homes in Paletwa Township before the coup in 2017 and had been sheltering in the town since then.
Currently, the AA controls most of Paletwa Township and the remaining parts are controlled by Chin resistance forces such as Paletwa Chinland Defence Force (CDF).
All the areas of southern Chin State controlled by the AA and Paletwa CDF are facing severe shortages of medicine, according to locals.
