Myanmar to evict AIDS victims from Suu Kyi shelter

AP
YANGON, Myanmar -Myanmarâ s health ministry has ordered the eviction of 82 HIV/AIDS p
atients from a shelter run by supporters of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi be
cause the center is not hygienic, state media said Wednesday.
An official at the facility said the patients have refused to move, setting the
stage for a showdown with authorities who said they must vacate by Thursday.
Local authorities last week ordered the HIV/AIDS victims to leave following a vi
sit by the newly freed Suu Kyi, who promised to help provide badly needed medici
ne.
Health officials inspected the shelter in July and August and found it unhygieni
c with patients susceptible to infections because of overcrowding, the state-run
Myanma Ahlin newspaper said.
But shelter organizers said authorities simply want to pressure them because of
the visit by Suu Kyi, who was freed from more than seven years of house arrest N
ov. 13.
Yarzar, one of the centerâ s staff members who uses only one name, admitted the shelt
er was crowded but said preventive measures were taken against the spread of dis
eases such as tuberculosis.
Health authorities offered to relocate patients to a state-run HIV/AIDS center,
but they refused to move out as their shelter not only offers medical care, food
and accommodation but â warmth and affection that no other center can provide,â Yarzar
aid.
Since the patients have decided not to leave, Yarzar said he was ready to face a
ny consequences.
The shelter, which includes a small wooden house and a two-story building of woo
d and thatch walls, accommodates 82 patients, including young children.
Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for her nonviolent struggle for demo
cracy, was first arrested in 1989. She has been detained for 15 of the past 21 y
ears.
Suu Kyi led her party, the National League for Democracy, to victory in 1990 ele
ctions, but the junta refused to recognize the results.