YANGON (UCAN): Charles Cardinal Bo of Yangon, Myanmar, pleaded for urgent medical aid as a third wave of Covid-19 coronavirus [SARS-CoV-2] infections continued to batter in the coup-hit country.
“Let all those who hold the guns, in the name of the Lord, we plead, drop all guns, bring medical care at once,” Cardinal Bo said in a homily on July 18.
“Unite to save lives. Our people need care, medicine and food. Let all doctors come forth to save lives,” he said, pointing out that the nation is facing three major challenges: Covid-19, conflict and the collapse of the economy.
“But now every breath has become a challenge. Day and night thousands are struggling to breathe. This deadly pandemic is stealing the basic gift of nature. Oxygen which is freely available in the air has suddenly become a precious commodity for which people are queuing up day and night,” he lamented.
Cardinal Bo decried the lack of medical personnel and volunteers as the crisis spirals out of control.
‘Hospitals are full. Cemeteries have long queues of dead bodies. Many die without saying goodbye, without seeing their loved ones’
Charles Cardinal Bo
“Hospitals are full. Cemeteries have long queues of dead bodies. Many die without saying goodbye, without seeing their loved ones,” the cardinal said.
The appeal comes as hospitals are full of patients and people are desperately searching for oxygen for their loved ones at home as cases surged.
Photographs on social media showed long queues of residents in Yangon, Mandalay and Kalay trying to refill oxygen cylinders. Residents in Yangon, are defying a military-imposed curfew to look for oxygen.
Amid restrictions on taking oxygen from private factories and a crackdown on health workers, the spike in cases is the latest blow to a country reeling from the February 1 coup [Sunday Examiner, February 7] and a bloody crackdown on protesters that has claimed more than 900 lives.
Cardinal Bo, who is president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar, said Covid-19 was making a “merciless attack’’ on simple people who were already wounded by months of conflict, death and displacement.
“As a human family, we face an existential threat. Starvation, anxiety and fear occupy their hearts,” he said.
The cardinal said that at least 20 per cent of Myanmar’s people could have been infected. About 90 per cent of towns have reported cases.
‘The healthcare system and medical services have all but fallen to the ground in a shambles due to the military’s persecution and terrorism against the people’
Dr. Sasa
“Apocalypse not yet, but if there is no conversion of hearts, many thousands will be buried in the coming months,” Cardinal Bo warned.
Tom Andrews, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on Myanmar, said the junta lacks the resources, capabilities and legitimacy to bring the crisis under control.
“The crisis is particularly lethal because of the pervasive mistrust of the junta,” he said.
Myanmar’s health system struggled to contain the deadly virus even before the February 1 coup. Thousands of doctors, volunteers and civil servants have since joined a mass civil disobedience campaign opposing the military regime.
“The healthcare system and medical services have all but fallen to the ground in a shambles due to the military’s persecution and terrorism against the people,” said Dr. Sasa, a spokesperson for the National Unity Government established by ousted lawmakers.
In the Diocese of Kalay, covering Sagaing and northern China state [bordering India], an emergency response committee was established to provide much-needed oxygen tanks, medical help and preventive measures, as well as a clinic providing medical help to the public, including Covid tests.
Father Dominic Savio Thang Suan Langh, parish priest of St. Mary’s Cathedral, called the situation extremely worrying as cases surged and there is a desperate need of oxygen for Covid patients.
Father Suan Langh said people wait in long queues to get oxygen from early morning but the demand is beyond the limited capacity of what the providers, including charitable groups, have.
“People are worrying about their daily livelihood, getting infected with the deadly disease and the urgent need for oxygen,” Father Suan Langh said.
The cathedral’s youth commission has been tasked with renting oxygen cylinders for those most in need, while it has ordered more from Yangon.
“Even if we have the financial resources, we can’t buy them to meet the growing need for oxygen,” he lamented.
Youth volunteers have also played a vital role in helping at funeral services, including burials at cemeteries, according to Father Suan Langh.
On July 14, Myanmar recorded 4,047 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 109 deaths, bringing total infections to 201,274 and the death toll to 4,036.
