Insein Prison: Could Mandela survive here?
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Insein Prison: Could Mandela survive here?


By The Irrawaddy SEPTEMBER, 1997 - VOLUME 5 NO.6


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Moe Zaw Oo already had a high temperature due to the infection and there was an insufficient amount of post-treatment antibiotics available so he refused the offer, insisting to see a doctor. Finally, Dr. Soe Kyi came and said, “Your boil needs to be operated on.” “But if you continue to complain, I’ll send you to the hospital,” the doctor threatened. “So you better not be concerned about HIV. There is no operating room or sterile medical equipment and you know there are many HIV positive Thai patients there.” Moe Zaw Oo familiar with the risks of the hospital treatment asked the doctor: “What should I do? You are a doctor, can you help me?” “Never forget the fact that this is a prison”, was Dr. Soe Kyi’s only reply. Then he left, telling Khin Maung Nwe to treat Moe Zaw Oo as he saw fit. Khin Maung Nwe told us prisoners that the prison would not provide new blades, bandages, alcohol or Ampicillin. We asked him to buy medical supplies for the operation from outside, but he said he could not afford to buy supplies, and asked the prisoners for money. In addition, he could be thrown in jail if he were caught providing medical supplies as it is a violation of the Jail Manual rules and M.I.S. We replied, “How can we pay since we are not allowed to hold money?” We were upset and angry. “You are not a real medical worker! You are not even a human-being!” Khin Maung Nwe disagreed. He explained if he weren’t a human-being and didn’t understand medical ethics, he would leave Moe Zaw Oo’s operation to the hospital, with assistance from his co-workers who don’t care whether they use unhygienic needles and equipment. Indeed, there would be a high risk of contracting HIV disease if we let Moe Zaw Oo be operated on at the prison hospital. The medical workers, who also treat the Thai Aids patients, have little idea about the deadly virus and neglect cleaning needles and syringes. We later found out that some “medical workers” are drug addicts and are infected by HIV. Finally, we cut a deal with Khin Maung Nwe. A political prisoner gave him his fancy T-shirt, worth 800 kyats, in exchange for Moe Zaw Oo’s treatment. I admire Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in a South Africa prison, but I wonder whether Mandela could have survived in Insein prison. Contributed by former political prisoner Moe Aye. This article is the second in a series of his personal prison stories.


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