<p>Protesters shot during rallies against Myanmar's military regime are avoiding treatment for their wounds, fearing arrest if they visit junta-run hospitals and searching desperately for sympathetic doctors to operate on them in secret.</p>.<p>Security forces have fired on civilian protests with sniper rifles, machine guns and mortar rounds in the months since the February coup that ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.</p>.<p>More than 800 people have been killed and thousands of others wounded in a running crackdown on opposition to the military regime, according to rights groups.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/trial-of-myanmars-aung-san-suu-kyi-to-begin-next-monday-lawyer-994688.html" target="_blank">Trial of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi to begin next Monday: Lawyer </a></strong></p>.<p>Maung Win Myo -- his name and others have been changed for safety reasons -- used to scratch a meagre living as a trishaw driver, ferrying people around the bustling commercial capital of Yangon.</p>.<p>But the 24-year-old hasn't worked since March, when he was shot in the leg while on the frontlines of an anti-junta protest.</p>.<p>"I can't even sleep properly at night," he told <em>AFP</em>, wincing on a mattress on the floor of the one-room apartment he shares with his wife and two children.</p>.<p>It would cost about $950 to pay for a second operation at a private hospital to set the steel in his broken bone, he said, but he will have to keep on suffering for now.</p>.<p>"I don't have any money as I cannot work," he said, adding that he was relying on donations from neighbours to feed his family.</p>.<p>One costly visit to a private clinic has already left Maung Win Myo out of pocket.</p>.<p>"We didn't dare to go to military hospital, that's why we went to a private hospital, even though we don't have money," his wife said.</p>.<p>Many others with serious injuries are scared to seek free treatment at military hospitals, for fear their wounds will betray their involvement in anti-coup protests.</p>.<p>"Not everyone is willing to go," Marjan Besuijen, Head of Mission for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Myanmar, told <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>"They fear arrest."</p>.<p>In a report last month, MSF also said its partners in Myanmar had witnessed junta raids on organisations "providing first aid to injured protesters, and seen their supplies destroyed."</p>.<p>Military hospitals are not normally open to the public but the junta has expanded their operations after many doctors walked off the job after the coup.</p>.<p>The strike, also joined by huge numbers of civil servants and other government employees, has forced the closure of almost all public hospitals in the country.</p>.<p>It has also cripped the economy and put a huge strain on the banking system.</p>.<p>Those lucky to still have jobs and savings face day-long queues at ATMs to withdraw a maximum of $120 per week, leaving many struggling to pay for food and rent -- let alone surgery.</p>.<p>Ngwe Nu Nu's husband was shot in the eye by security forces on his way to work at a rice broker's in the central city of Myingyan in late April.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/eu-denounces-myanmar-junta-appointed-electoral-bodys-plan-to-dissolve-suu-kyi-party-989047.html" target="_blank">EU denounces Myanmar junta-appointed electoral body's plan to dissolve Suu Kyi party </a></strong></p>.<p>The main breadwinner in the family, he was taken to Mandalay for treatment, but died in hospital a few days later, leaving Ngwe Nu Nu alone and indebted for his treatment.</p>.<p>"I tried my best to save his life," she told <em>AFP</em>. "Now I don't know how to survive without him."</p>.<p>As the coup enters its fifth month -- and with customs officials among those striking -- sourcing medicine is also getting harder.</p>.<p>For the last month "we have had difficulties in getting some medical materials for operations," as stockists run out, one doctor treating wounded protesters in Mandalay told AFP.</p>.<p>"If this lasts longer, it will impact more seriously on the patients," the doctor said, on condition of anonymity.</p>.<p>Mother of three May Win, 50, is also unable to work after she was shot in the hand two months ago while protesting against the junta in Mandalay.</p>.<p>Sympathetic doctors put steel into her broken thumb for free, but over a month later, the injury has not fully healed.</p>.<p>"I used to go to work by driving a motorbike, but now I won't be able to work anymore," she told <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>But she also vows to go back out to protest when her hand is fully healed.</p>.<p>"I will go out again to fight because we must fight for our next generation and for our country until this battle ends," she told <em>AFP</em>.</p>
<p>Protesters shot during rallies against Myanmar's military regime are avoiding treatment for their wounds, fearing arrest if they visit junta-run hospitals and searching desperately for sympathetic doctors to operate on them in secret.</p>.<p>Security forces have fired on civilian protests with sniper rifles, machine guns and mortar rounds in the months since the February coup that ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.</p>.<p>More than 800 people have been killed and thousands of others wounded in a running crackdown on opposition to the military regime, according to rights groups.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/trial-of-myanmars-aung-san-suu-kyi-to-begin-next-monday-lawyer-994688.html" target="_blank">Trial of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi to begin next Monday: Lawyer </a></strong></p>.<p>Maung Win Myo -- his name and others have been changed for safety reasons -- used to scratch a meagre living as a trishaw driver, ferrying people around the bustling commercial capital of Yangon.</p>.<p>But the 24-year-old hasn't worked since March, when he was shot in the leg while on the frontlines of an anti-junta protest.</p>.<p>"I can't even sleep properly at night," he told <em>AFP</em>, wincing on a mattress on the floor of the one-room apartment he shares with his wife and two children.</p>.<p>It would cost about $950 to pay for a second operation at a private hospital to set the steel in his broken bone, he said, but he will have to keep on suffering for now.</p>.<p>"I don't have any money as I cannot work," he said, adding that he was relying on donations from neighbours to feed his family.</p>.<p>One costly visit to a private clinic has already left Maung Win Myo out of pocket.</p>.<p>"We didn't dare to go to military hospital, that's why we went to a private hospital, even though we don't have money," his wife said.</p>.<p>Many others with serious injuries are scared to seek free treatment at military hospitals, for fear their wounds will betray their involvement in anti-coup protests.</p>.<p>"Not everyone is willing to go," Marjan Besuijen, Head of Mission for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Myanmar, told <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>"They fear arrest."</p>.<p>In a report last month, MSF also said its partners in Myanmar had witnessed junta raids on organisations "providing first aid to injured protesters, and seen their supplies destroyed."</p>.<p>Military hospitals are not normally open to the public but the junta has expanded their operations after many doctors walked off the job after the coup.</p>.<p>The strike, also joined by huge numbers of civil servants and other government employees, has forced the closure of almost all public hospitals in the country.</p>.<p>It has also cripped the economy and put a huge strain on the banking system.</p>.<p>Those lucky to still have jobs and savings face day-long queues at ATMs to withdraw a maximum of $120 per week, leaving many struggling to pay for food and rent -- let alone surgery.</p>.<p>Ngwe Nu Nu's husband was shot in the eye by security forces on his way to work at a rice broker's in the central city of Myingyan in late April.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/eu-denounces-myanmar-junta-appointed-electoral-bodys-plan-to-dissolve-suu-kyi-party-989047.html" target="_blank">EU denounces Myanmar junta-appointed electoral body's plan to dissolve Suu Kyi party </a></strong></p>.<p>The main breadwinner in the family, he was taken to Mandalay for treatment, but died in hospital a few days later, leaving Ngwe Nu Nu alone and indebted for his treatment.</p>.<p>"I tried my best to save his life," she told <em>AFP</em>. "Now I don't know how to survive without him."</p>.<p>As the coup enters its fifth month -- and with customs officials among those striking -- sourcing medicine is also getting harder.</p>.<p>For the last month "we have had difficulties in getting some medical materials for operations," as stockists run out, one doctor treating wounded protesters in Mandalay told AFP.</p>.<p>"If this lasts longer, it will impact more seriously on the patients," the doctor said, on condition of anonymity.</p>.<p>Mother of three May Win, 50, is also unable to work after she was shot in the hand two months ago while protesting against the junta in Mandalay.</p>.<p>Sympathetic doctors put steel into her broken thumb for free, but over a month later, the injury has not fully healed.</p>.<p>"I used to go to work by driving a motorbike, but now I won't be able to work anymore," she told <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>But she also vows to go back out to protest when her hand is fully healed.</p>.<p>"I will go out again to fight because we must fight for our next generation and for our country until this battle ends," she told <em>AFP</em>.</p>