‘We feel like we are failing’: Myanmar doctor speaks out as health system teeters on ‘brink of collapse’

When Myanmar’s junta seized power in a 2021 coup, Elle* and a fellow doctor fled to the jungle to provide aid to the resistance movement, one of 45,000 healthcare workers to lend their support. Elle does not regret her decision, she supports the pro-democracy movement and later married the doctor with whom she escaped, but years of sacrifice have taken a toll. She treats patients from refugee camps at a clinic but does not earn enough to send money back to support her parents in their old age, which is her greatest wish. “We did everything we could for our…