Breathless, fevered and without the extra oxygen that could help keep them alive, the new coronavirus patients at a hospital near Myanmar's border with India highlight the threat to a health system near collapse since February's coup.
Thirteen medics have been killed, according to World Health Organization data that shows 179 attacks on health workers, facilities and transport - nearly half of all such attacks recorded worldwide this year, said WHO Myanmar representative Stephan Paul Jost. "Then again, we don't receive new patients any more as COVID test centers don't have staff to test," said the worker, who declined to give his name for fear of retribution.
Now, a health system in crisis is raising concerns about the likely impact on the country from the wave of infections with variants that is sweeping through India, Thailand and other neighbors. Stay-at-home orders have now been declared in parts of Chin state, where Cikha is located, and neighboring Sagaing region.
Lun Za En said her hospital was doing the best it could with nebulizers - machines that turn liquid to mist - to relieve breathlessness. Some patients have oxygen concentrators, but they only work for the two hours a day that the town gets electricity."The junta will not take care of our patients," she said.