This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on June 17, 2019 - June 23, 2019

MALAYSIAN Field Hospital, Cox’s Bazaar: A few months ago, we were enlisted for the Ops Starlight 3 humanitarian mission (Malaysian Field Hospital [MFH] in Cox’s Bazaar). We were overcome by excitement, but we were also apprehensive as we had to uproot ourselves from the many other responsibilities back home that needed to be attended to.

However, as military officers, we were trained to respond to the call of duty to our King and our country, and therefore, we embarked on our journey to Bangladesh on Feb 22, 2019, arriving at Cox’s Bazaar in the early hours of the morning.

We had been told that Cox‘s Bazaar has the longest stretch of beach in the world. From the air, we were captivated by the view. A day after arrival, we travelled to the Malaysian Field Hospital. We beamed with pride when we looked upon the big blue signboard.

We could only be grateful to the teams before us who had laid the foundation for us to function. The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.

This brings about the question of humanity in this problem. If we had closed a blind eye to the suffering of the Rohingya, it would mean that we had put all accepted values and norms on the line.

In this mission, we have concluded that the Rohingya people were born with no understanding of their religion, or their race and, primarily, their nationality. The Rohingya have been denied all basic human rights that we take for granted — such as housing, healthcare, sanitation, protection and citizenship.

Every day, we feel blessed that we come from a multiracial country, and that we live in harmony despite our religious cultural and political differences. As for the Rohingya, we feel blessed that we can help alleviate a little of their suffering.

In MFH — built on 0.3 acres of land and housing 56 personnel — despite the limitations, we were able to facilitate a Level Three field hospital providing healthcare to these unfortunate people.

We made the most of the situation and never compromised on our clinical values.

Over the months, we have learnt that the Rohingya have been denied of proper healthcare for a long time. Chronic diseases such as anaemia, hypertension and diabetes were neglected and untreated. Further, acute cases such as bone fractures and abdominal ailments were not attended to due to a lack of logistical support and a lack of financial means.

Sometimes, we wonder what would have happened to the more than 70,000 patients we have treated to date, who were treated at the MFH by Malaysians who cared not about their religion, their race or their nationality.

For us, too, it has been a learning process. As Mahatma Gandhi said: “We must not lose faith in humanity; humanity is an ocean. If a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
 

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