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Could Mandela survive here?
This appeared as an article in The Irrawaddy, Vol. 5. No.6. 30
September 1997
Whoever you are, leave it at the prison gate. There are no politicians,
doctors, teachers, monks, nuns or students. You are all prisoners.
You are all the same.
Those are the greeting words for every new political Jail (formerly
called the Attached jail). Although it is a special jail, the only
special privilege provided was "special solitary confinement."
The chief prison doctor was Dr. Soe Kyi, and his assistants were
Dr. Tun Tun and
Dr. Aung Than Myint. During those days, Dr. Soe Kyi was the most
powerful man in the prison because of his relationship with former
Home Minister Lt-Gen Phone Myint.
Almost every Wednesday, the chief warden made his rounds and checks
to see if the prisoners in I.S.J. had any complaints or requests.
All officials in the prison, including prison medical officers had
to accompany him on his rounds. It was the only time we had the
right to see a prison doctor.
Apart from Wednesdays, we could only see a "medical worker"
between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Our "medical worker" was Corporal
Khim Maung New who had little clinical knowledge or experience.
If one wanted to se him, first one needed to inform the head of
the Cell Block.
However, to see a doctor on Wednesday, a patient was made to humbly
stand head down in his cell with his hands crossed over the groin
area. Passing officials would peer into the cells, asking the sick
what they had to say.
The doctor never gave actual examinations, but only asked us what
was wrong. Then the doctor would tell Khin Maung New what type of
pills to give the patient. But we were never told what type of medicine
was prescribed to us.
Our blood pressure and heartbeat were never tested were never tested
and we never saw a doctor with a stethoscope. Regardless of the
affliction, all patients were treated with the same medicines, usually
a weak pain killer like Burspro or an antacid called Antacin. All
the prisoners began calling Khin Maung New"Mr.Burspro!"
It's strange, isn't it? We were given the same treatment even though
we suffered from different ailments.
Not surprisingly, U Tin Maung Win (NLD-MP) and U Sein Win died
in Insein prison in January 1991. U Tin Maung Win was suffering
from anoebic dysentery but he never received any proper medication.
Only when he fell unconscious did the jail authorities finally send
him to the prison hospital. He died shortly after. The authorities
claimed he died of leukaemia.
After hearing of U Tin Maung Win's premature death, we requested
that Er. Soe Kyin provides proper medicine for us. He replied, "You're
lucky that we are even kind enough to prescribe Burspro and Sodamint.
If MIS knew about that, we (doctors and medics) would be fired.
We were told not to give any treatment to those who are awaiting
trial or currently being tried."
Occasionally, when we were very fortunate, we were given Tetracycline,
Ampicillin and Paracetamol. Although prisoners are not doctors we
are familiar with antibiotics. One cycle of antibiotics is 16 capsules
for 4 days but we never received enough capsules. At most, we received
4 capsules. If we complained, the doctors and medics would say,
"Why do you think you're special? There are many other patients
here. If you received 16 capsules, how could we provide for the
others?"
Finally we realized that assuming the humiliating official posture
in our cells to request treatment was not worth it-we never received
treatment except for Burspro and Sodamint.
In February 1991, a Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT) student
in prison suffering from a bad toothache met Dr. Soe Kyi. The doctor
asked him where it hurt.
The student replied "My lower left jaw."
Dr. Soe Kyi smiled and said, "Okay, use your right side (to
eat food)."
The student became angry and screamed "You are not a doctor!"
"No. I'm not a dentist, "Dr. Soe Kyi said coyly and went
away.
Until the beginning of 1995 there was no dentist in the prison
hospital.
In late February 1991, Toe Toe Tun, from the Democratic Party for
a New Society, suffered from dysentery and asked Dr. Soe Kyi to
authorize special meals of porridge and bolied water. Not unexpectedly,
Dr. Soe Kyi said, "It is impossible to provide boiled water.
We don't even have boiled water to clean the needles at our hospital."
In March 1991, Moe Zaw Oo (NLD-Youth) developed a large boil on
his hip. Khin Maung New said a doctor would't give him any treatment,
even if he were allowed to see one. Khim Maung New offered to remove
the boil himself.
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 Kyin came and said, "Your boil needs to be
operated on. But if you continue to complain, I'll send you to the
hospital, "he threatened, "and you'd better not be concerned
about HIV positive Thai patients there."
"Never forget the fact that this is a prison," was Dr.
Soe Kyi's only reply. Then he left, telling Khin Maung New to treat
Moe Zaw Oo as he saw fit.
Khin Maung New 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 and MIS
rules.
We were upset and angry. "You are not a real medical worker!
You are not a real medical worker! You are not even a human being!"
Khin Maung New disagreed. He explained that if he weren't a human
being and didn't understand medical ethics, he would leave Moe Zaw
Oo's operation to the hospital. Then it would be done with assistance
from medical workers who didn't care whether they used 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
New. 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.
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