Doctor visits Myanmar's ailing Aung San Suu Kyi

The Associated Press
Updated: 05/11/2009 04:39:46 AM PDT

YANGON, Myanmar—Myanmar's military rulers allowed a doctor to make a follow-up visit to detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday after she was found last week to be suffering from dehydration and low blood pressure.

Officials from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party said Dr. Pyone Moe Ei was granted a medical visit to her lakeside home Monday afternoon. They issued an appeal for her to be allowed further treatment for her condition, which was not disclosed.

Suu Kyi's main doctor, Tin Myo Win, was detained for questioning by the authorities last Thursday after an American man was arrested for allegedly sneaking into her closely guarded home early last week.

State-run media said the American confessed that he swam 1 1/4 miles (2 kilometers) across Inya Lake to Suu Kyi's compound and "secretly entered the house," where he stayed for two days. He was arrested when authorities spotted him swimming back.

Pyone Moe Ei was allowed to see Suu Kyi on Friday and put her on an intravenous drip, but a request for a follow-up visit on Saturday was not granted. She is rarely allowed to leave her compound and her visitors are severely restricted because she is under house arrest.

"We heard that the doctor is allowed to see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (on Monday). We welcome the doctor's visit and we are happy that Daw Suu is given medical treatment," said Nyan Win, a spokesman for her party. "Daw" is a term of respect used for older women in Myanmar.

Nyan Win last week said Pyone Moe Ei reported that Suu Kyi had not eaten for three or four days.

Asked about Tin Myo Win, the spokesman said, "We still haven't heard anything about the doctor since Thursday and we are very much concerned."

The military government, following standard practice, has not commented on the doctor's detention.

Suu Kyi—who has spent more than 13 of the last 19 years, including the past six, in detention without trial—is allowed virtually no visitors aside from her doctor.

Source: http://www.montereyherald.com/news/ci_12342347

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