EMG
MYEIK—A paralyzed man rejected for health care at a local hospital was abandoned at a cemetery in Myeik last Thursday, one of the residents who left him there has confirmed.
On November 3, a destitute man staying at an old house on B Street in Kangyi Ward, Myeik, suffered a stroke. According to locals, the man is only about 30 years old but suffered the stroke due to heavy drinking.
When the ward administrator and a group of local residents brought him to the government hospital, hospital officials learned that the man has no relatives and was living alone.
“We sent him to the hospital on November 3. We also hired a man to help him. But the hospital staff said we had no permission to bring him there because he had ‘only’ suffered a stroke. They repeatedly told us to take back the paralyzed man,” said a Kangyi local who asked not to be named.
“We are not the blood relatives of that patient. He has no relatives. That’s why we sent him to a government hospital. But the hospital forced us to take him back, even though the man can no longer walk. We asked the hospital how we could possibly provide health care to him when even the government hospital cannot do so. They objected to us and so we had to take him back.”
The Kangyi local said that last Thursday the group took the man to the Kalwin all-faith cemetery.
“Six people took the paralyzed man and abandoned him at the cemetery at our village. They (the men) left soft drinks with him. Previously, a man was also abandoned and left to die. We had to bury that man,” confirmed another Kalwin villager.
The news about the paralyzed man spread widely among Facebook users in Myeik, so officials had to take him back to the hospital on Sunday, according to local residents.
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