Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) published their report on the Chut Pyin Massacre with forensic evidence of violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar. The report is based on interviews and forensic medical examinations of Rohingya survivors of these attacks.
Dr. Rupa Patel, is among the three physicians involved in field investigations related to Chut Pyin. She along with Homer Venters, MD, MS and Karen Wang, MD, MHS, worked with local translators and a fixer who assisted with logistical arrangements.
Dr Patel utilized her and her colleagues’ specific expertise in infectious diseases to comment on the long-term disability the victims would endure from the crimes in the context of having no available medical or surgical care for the skin, soft tissue, muscle, and bone wounds endured and the subsequent infections identified.
The three worked as volunteers for Physician for Human Rights, among the Rohingyas to document crimes related to ethnic cleansing. Faculty will continue to train local NGO staff physicians, mid-level providers, and other trained staff to identify psychological and physical signs of torture and to refer them to treatment centers that can provide the appropriate levels of support. These initiatives foster the continued identification and documentation of violence against the Rohingyas that can aid investigations of mass crimes in an international court of law.