MSF Statement Regarding the Humanitarian Crisis in Rakhine State, Myanmar

Karline Kleijer is the emergency operations manager for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF):  

While increasing numbers of Rohingya refugees flee from Myanmar into Bangladesh, those who remain in Rakhine State have virtually no access to humanitarian assistance. Wild accusations leveled against aid agencies and restrictive measures imposed on them by Myanmar’s authorities, are leaving the most vulnerable without access to any assistance or care. Reports that MSF clinics in Rakhine State have been burned to the ground are extremely alarming, as is the inability of MSF medical teams to move from their base due to ongoing violence and travel restrictions.

MSF teams in neighboring Bangladesh are treating scores of people with violence-related injuries. People too injured or sick to flee Rakhine State must therefore be accessed without further delay. Administrative obstacles must be eased immediately and humanitarian workers must be granted unfettered access to people in desperate need.