26 April 2021
Nurses hold up signs as they march during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on 13 February, 2021. (AFP Photo)
Moe* is 53 years old and has stage three breast cancer.
She used to go for radiotherapy treatment every three weeks at the state-run Mandalay General Hospital in northern Myanmar.
But the day after the military deposed Myanmar's elected government in a coup on 1 February, the hospital closed its doors. Doctors, nurses and other medical workers all walked out in protest and have not returned.
Now Moe cannot afford the roughly US$700 she would need to complete her remaining cycles of treatment at a private hospital.
Without it, she believes she has around a year to live.
Nevertheless, she does not blame the doctors: "It's the fault of the military," she said.
"Even if I die with cancer, I can accept it. The rest of the people in Myanmar deserve democracy."
'Near Collapse'
Myanmar's healthcare system has been one of the worst-affected sectors in the aftermath of a coup on 1 February which saw the military seize control of the country, sparking widespread protests.
Thousands of doctors have joined the country's civil disobedience movement which has seen public employees and other state officials refusing to work under the new military regime.
Myanmar's public healthcare system accounts for around 80 percent of all hospitals and clinics and provides heavily subsidised care to the country's 54 million people.
This virtually vanished overnight – and in the midst of a global pandemic.
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