Junta Targets Doctors Linked

[waterly@xxxxxxxxx]

                              Agence France Presse

                          February  26, 1997 26:13 GMT



HEADLINE:  Burma  junta targets doctors linked to opposition

DATELINE: RANGOON, Feb 26

 BODY:
   Burmese military authorities have taken action against doctors linked to the
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), official sources said Wednesday.

   An information sheet released by the Office of Strategic Studies said that
Dr. Than Nyein, who won a seat in parliament under the NLD banner in the
abortive May 1990 general elections, had his medical license revoked for
operating an unauthorized clinic. 
   Three days earlier, another information sheet said that Dr. Than Aung, also
an elected MP for the NLD, had been charged with causing death by negligence
after a patient died.

   Two other doctors with links to the NLD have been placed under investigation
in Ayerwaddy division, in the delta region southwest of Rangoon, NLD sources
said.

   They alleged that officials were using technicalities to put pressure on the
NLD, as part of a concerted effort to diminish opposition numbers.

   Also this week, the state-run press reported that two NLD elected candidates
resigned from the party. One cited health reasons and the other old age.

   Dr. Than Nyein had been awaiting official permission to operate his clinic,
while Dr. Than Aung's patient was terminally ill and had been given a pain
reliever so that he could get to a government hospital, the sources said.

   Dr. Than Nyein, a staunch NLD supporter and vice-chairman of the Rangoon NLD,
is a brother-in-law of Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, the head of military
intelligence and a key junta figure, an opposition source said.

   Dr. Than Aung, while an elected candidate for the NLD, was not politically
active but was a committed doctor known for his humanitarian practice, the
source added.

   Another doctor reported Dr. Than Nyein to township authorities after he
opened his clinic without official authorization in January.

   "He has been found guilty of breaching medical professional ethics.
Consequently, his ... licenses had been revoked on the 19th of February 1997 by
the Ministry of Health," Wednesday's statement said.

   Dr. Than Aung was charged on February 21 for an incident that took place four
days earlier. He had given a shot but the patient felt worse afterward and was
sent to an emergency ward but died before he arrived, Sunday's information sheet
said.