Arakan State residents call for assigning more specialists to Sittwe General Hospital

By DMG 26 Nov 2022

DMG Newsroom
26 November 2022, Sittwe

Local residents in Arakan State have called on authorities to assign more specialists to treat certain medical problems at the 500-bed Sittwe General Hospital.

At present, the public hospital has general physicians; an orthopaedic specialist; an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist; a mental health specialist; and a paediatric specialist. But there are no specialists for kidney, heart, lung or neurological problems, according to residents.

“Sittwe Hospital needs many specialists for the respective departments. The hospital receives large numbers of patients, and it is not OK to treat many patients. As a resident of Arakan State, I’d hope there are sufficient specialists at the hospital,” said Ko Myat Aung, a resident of Rathedaung Township.

Some patients are forced to go to private clinics and hospitals, sometimes as far away as Yangon, due to the lack of specialists at Sittwe General Hospital. For many, however, this is a luxury they cannot afford.

Sittwe General Hospital is the closest major healthcare facility for most of Arakan State’s 17 townships.

“As Sittwe Hospital is the major hospital representing Arakan State, there must be sufficient specialists and doctors at the hospital,” said Sittwe resident Ma Thida.

A doctor from Yangon said: “If there are no heart, kidney, brain, and neurological specialists, it will be very hard for patients there. And it is really a hassle to travel to Yangon for medical treatment.”

DMG was unable to reach relevant health officials to ask for their responses to the medical specialist-related concerns of local residents.