Rohingya are at risk “wherever we go, whether Myanmar, Thailand, or Malaysia”

Delivering health care to Rohingya refugees

The Rohingya people who manage to reach Malaysia via perilous boat journeys from Myanmar or Bangladesh still face various barriers in accessing medical care and protection once arriving in the country.

“Most of the patients who come here have mental health issues,” says Dr. Sayshadrry Kumaraguru of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who works at the Klinik Mewah 6 clinic in Butterworth, Penang state. MSF teams provide primary health care and mental support care at this clinic, focusing mainly on women and children. The clinic also provides support for referrals to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for unregistered refugee applicants.

“Hopeless days, with nowhere to go and no future in sight, have had a serious impact on people’s minds,” says MSF counselor educator Vignesvari A/P Vergingoma, who provides counseling to refugees held in one of Malaysia’s immigration detention centers.

In addition to mental health issues, many people suffer from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and measles. Vaccines against these diseases are available for Malaysians, but only under certain conditions for non-Malaysians, and are rarely free to obtain. What’s more, people who are not registered with UNHCR tend to hide out of fear of being arrested and detained. “As a result, they are unable to receive vaccinations, and infections are spreading in the overcrowded living conditions,” Dr. Kumaraguru says.

Perilous boat journeys to Malaysia

The number of Rohingya people attempting dangerous boat journeys to Malaysia from Bangladesh and Myanmar is on the rise. In 2023, more than 4,400 Rohingya refugees made the journey, an increase of over 20 percent from the previous year.

Most of these recent sea arrivals in Malaysia came from the world’s largest camps, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where more than 1 million Rohingya people have been living in overcrowded conditions for seven years, lacking basic services and with little prospects for the future. The dire situation in the camps could cause more Rohingya to flee in the coming years.

Many people describe traumatic experiences during their months-long journeys, and some  have experienced sexual violence and abuse. As a result, they are at high risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some even regret coming to Malaysia. 

“There is widespread misinformation in Bangladesh that if they arrive in Malaysia, they will receive education and freedom to go anywhere they want,” says MSF psychologist Bawanie Rajendran, adding “So there is a lot of shock due to the gap between reality and what they had imagined.”

“We are grateful to Malaysia for hosting us for a long, long time. But we are going through many hardships as the Rohingya community. We are an unwanted community on this planet, unfortunately,” says Muhibullah, a Rohingya volunteer community case worker.

In the three immigration detention centers where MSF works, MSF teams provide medical and psychosocial care and distribute essential hygiene items, such as soap and sanitary pads. “Many patients suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes,” says Vergingoma. “Scabies is also widespread. In addition, some people have been detained for three to four years with no prospects for the future, which has a serious impact on their mental health.”

Rohingya staff help to understand the struggles of new arrivals

Rohingya volunteer staff members are an integral part of MSF’s work in Penang. They are involved in patient support, interpretation during consultations and treatment, referrals to necessary medical care, and health promotion activities. Alongside their communities, they have also experienced suffering and various difficulties prior to reaching Malaysia from Myanmar or Bangladesh.

About the Rohingya people

The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority who have lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist Myanmar, mostly in Rakhine state. Despite generations of residence in Myanmar, the Rohingya were effectively excluded from full citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law, leaving them stateless. In August 2017, a concerted campaign of extreme violence and killings by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya people occurred in Rakhine state, forcing around 770,000 people to flee to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Seven years later, more than 1 million Rohingya people now live in the camps of Cox’s Bazar, in dire conditions. Hundreds of thousands have also fled to countries such as Malaysia, India, and Pakistan, where they remain stateless.

Since November 2023, conflict between the Myanmar Armed Forces/Myanmar military and the Arakan Army has been escalating in Rakhine state. As the fighting has intensified, the Rohingya are again increasingly vulnerable and caught in the crossfire, and have been left with no means of reaching safety as they are often blocked from moving within Myanmar or across the border to Bangladesh. Between August 5 and 17, MSF teams in Bangladesh treated 83 war-wounded Rohingya patients who had managed to cross the border, of whom 48 percent were women and children.