Medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said yesterday the Myanmar government had ordered it to suspend all its activities in the country, halting vital care to thousands of people.
"MSF is deeply shocked by this unilateral decision and extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of patients currently under our care across the country," the group said.
It added that the move would have a "devastating impact" on its 30,000 HIV/Aids patients and more than 3,000 tuberculosis patients.
"Today for the first time in MSF's history of operations in the country, HIV/Aids clinics in Rakhine, Shan and Kachin states, as well as Yangon division, were closed and patients were unable to receive the treatment they needed," the group said.
Myanmar's presidential spokesman Ye Htut had criticised MSF in the newspaper for hiring "Bengalis", the term the government uses for Rohingya, and lacking transparency in its work.
He also accused the group of misleading the world about an attack last month in the remote northern part of Rakhine.
The United Nations said more than 40 Rohingya may have been killed, but the government has vehemently denied allegations that a Buddhist mob rampaged through a village, killing women and children.
