Reuters-FOCUS-Myanmar says lacks me

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Subject: Reuters-FOCUS-Myanmar says lacks medical care for Suu Kyi's husband 

FOCUS-Myanmar says lacks medical care for Suu Kyi's husband
07:23 a.m. Mar 20, 1999 Eastern
YANGON, March 20 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government said on Saturday
it was sympathetic to a visa request from the dying husband of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi but the country lacked proper medical facilities for
him.

``The Government of Myanmar remains very sympathetic to the request by
Michael Aris,'' it said in a statement.

``Myanmar medical authorities are concerned, however, that Mr Aris might not
be able to receive proper medical care in Myanmar, and that he might put an
undue burden on the country's limited medical facilities.

``Citizens of developed countries should be considerate about overstraining
the medical facilities of less developed countries, and Myanmar medical
authorities would request Mr Aris and his family to be sympathetic to this
fact.''

The government reiterated that it was reviewing the request by Aris, a
Briton, for a visa but gave no indication that it would be approved, saying
his wife should instead leave Myanmar and travel to see him.

``While Mr Aris's visa application is currently under review, the government
suggests that it is more humane for a person in perfect health to make the
journey to fulfil the terminally ill husband's wish to see her.''

It said if Aris were to require extensive hospitalisation in Myanmar during
his visit, it would put severe stress on the country's intensive care
facilities.

Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) who
won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for defying military rule, has not left
Myanmar since she returned to Yangon in early 1988 to nurse her dying
mother. She fears she would not be allowed back if she did.

The military has long sought to get Suu Kyi, the biggest thorn in its side
for a decade, out of Myanmar.

The couple have not seen one another since mid-1995, shortly after Suu Kyi
was released from six years of house arrest. Sources close to the family say
Aris, an Oxford academic who has been denied a Myanmar visa for the past
three years, is dying from prostate cancer that has spread to his spine and
lungs.

Suu Kyi's family sources said that even if Aris were granted a visa he was
not currently fit to travel but might attempt to if his condition improved.