Bangladesh: Dramatic increase in Rohingya war casualties arriving from Myanmar

ROMA – A growing number of Rohingya injured in violence have reached Bangladesh in the past week, signaling a sharp worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, a UN official said. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) that in the four days prior to August 7, treated 39 people with injuries caused by violence in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. More than 40 percent of the injured were women and children.

Wounded by bullets and mortars. Many patients had mortar and gunshot wounds. The number of injured people peaked on 6 August, when MSF teams treated 21 people. MSF facilities have not seen such serious injuries for a year. “Given the increase in the number of injured Rohingya patients crossing the border from Myanmar in recent days and the types of injuries our teams are treating,” says Orla Murphy, MSF representative in Bangladesh, “we are increasingly concerned about the impact of the conflict on the Rohingya population. It is clear that safe areas for civilians in Myanmar are becoming increasingly scarcer every day. Some people are caught up in the ongoing fighting, others are forced to undertake dangerous journeys to Bangladesh in search of safer areas.”

The situation is desperate in Rakhine State. Patients described to MSF staff the desperate situation in Rakhine State. Some witnessed attacks on people trying to cross the river in boats to Bangladesh to escape the violence, while others described hundreds of lifeless bodies lying on the banks of the same river. Many patients described being separated from their families as they tried to reach safety, and seeing their loved ones die in the violence. Many fear that their relatives back in Myanmar will not survive.

The health system is paralyzed. Since October 2023, the escalation of the conflict in Rakhine State has caused enormous suffering for the Rohingya population and led to the progressive paralysis of the health system. “Our patients tell us that they have had extreme difficulty accessing medical facilities in Myanmar due to the highly volatile situation,” continues Murphy of MSF.

The work of MSF operators has been compromised. Furthermore, the conflict has compromised the work of MSF staff, limiting their ability to carry out medical activities safely. In June, MSF was forced to suspend its activities in northern Rakhine State due to escalating violence, leaving the population without essential medical care and further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.

It is urgent to allow people to move around. MSF calls for the immediate protection of civilians caught in the conflict. “People must not be subjected to indiscriminate attacks and must be enabled to move to safer areas. Those in need of life-saving medical care must have uninterrupted and free access to health facilities,” concludes Murphy of MSF.