Body of Pregnant Rohingya Woman from Sittwe Hospital Returned with Severe Injuries

RB News

April 6, 2014

On April 6th 2014 the body of a woman was delivered to the Bodapa IDP camp by police from Sittwe Hospital. Information provided to villagers when her body was delivered stated that her name was Noor Begum, and that she was from Anar Raing village, Pauktaw. Sources said that she went to the hospital for labor, and that her child died at some point. It is unknown if it was during delivery. The body of the child was not delivered to the camp with her.

Noor's face was severely bruised, swollen, and she had a major laceration from her forehead to the bridge of her nose, injuries all suggesting she was severely beaten. Noor has no family at the IDP camp she was dropped off at to verify her condition when she went to the hospital, but the villagers who have seen her believe the evidence suggests that she was beaten and killed while in the care of the hospital. Police did not explain why they did not take her body to the village she lived in. 

Reports of mistreatment, abuse, and neglect of Rohingya by doctors at Sittwe Hospital are very common. Rohingya are able to go to Sittwe Hospital by Police transport, but they must pay police very large sums in order to obtain transportation there, and many Rohingya fear that by going to the hospital they will be killed or given very poor medical treatment because of their ethnicity. The reluctance from fear to go to Sittwe Hospital, along with the inability to pay the fees to get there, is one of the last ways that Rohingya are being completely cut off from any form of medical care or treatment.