‘We feel like we are failing’: Myanmar doctor speaks out as health system teeters on ‘brink of collapse’

What Happened

Myanmar’s healthcare system is on the verge of collapse as the military junta intensifies attacks on medical infrastructure and blockades exacerbate shortages of essential supplies, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and medical professionals. The WHO verified 70 attacks on health care sites, resulting in 148 deaths and 186 injuries in 2025, driven by intensified airstrikes. Dr. Andrew Green, chair of the British Medical Association’s medical ethics committee, stated that violations of medical neutrality have led to the ‘complete destruction of medical services’ in some areas. A doctor named Elle, who fled to the jungle to support the resistance, described personal hardship and treating patients from refugee camps without being able to support her parents. Since the 2021 coup, Insecurity Insight documented at least 1,948 incidents of violence against or obstruction of healthcare, with 932 health workers arrested and 175 killed. The junta has denied targeting civilians, claiming those killed were ‘terrorists’. The military has recently recaptured some strategic ground, disrupting resistance supply lines, after earlier defeats in 2024. Over 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict, according to ACLED, and the UN reports at least 702 civilian deaths caused by the military in the six months around the widely condemned January elections.

Key Actors

Why It Matters

The collapse of Myanmar's healthcare system amid deliberate targeting and blockades represents a severe humanitarian crisis, compounding the war's toll of over 100,000 dead and massive displacement. It underscores systematic violations of international humanitarian law and medical neutrality, with attacks on clinics precisely because they sustain communities resistant to military rule. The breakdown threatens a resurgence of preventable diseases like malaria and interrupts maternal and child health services, leaving millions without care and deepening the country's instability.

Watch For

Monitor further WHO and Insecurity Insight reports on attacks and health access; potential UN Security Council briefings or International Humanitarian Fact‑Finding Commission inquiries into medical neutrality violations; any ASEAN or international donor response to the healthcare emergency; and disease outbreak warnings from humanitarian agencies as the rainy season progresses.