MANDALAY DIVISION – Mr. Thaik Tun Oo, the executive committee member of Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM) reported that the junta council’s Prison Department limited the usage of water in Ohbo Prison, saying it’s due to electricity outage, resulting in horrible skin diseases among the prisoners.
As prison cells are crammed with more than the intended number of prisoners, being unable to use enough water led to poor personal hygiene, followed by skin diseases.
“They claimed that because there is no electricity, they can’t run the motor to draw water. They also collected money from the prisoners, saying that they needed fuel to run the motor, and banned those who couldn’t pay from bathing. This is the duty of the prison,” said Mr. Thaik Tun Oo.
Each prisoner is allowed only between 10 and 20 cups of water for bathing and they also limited the water used for laundry.
“According to our data, even at a time when the spreading of skin diseases such as ringworm, mange and rashes is not an epidemic, there are between 100 and 150 political prisoners suffering from those diseases. The family members can only send one tube of medicine per person. Some families can’t even afford to send care packages,” Mr. Thaik Tun Oo continued.
In addition to water for bathing and general use, even water for toilets is limited, causing more troubles for the prisoners and harming their health.
PPNM previously reported that over 100 political prisoners in Daik U Prison were suffering from skin diseases in October and were not provided treatment.
