Here is the Myanmar Times on the almost-eviction. The new eviction deadline of 1 December, World AIDS Day, has passed.
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Officials grant one-week extension for South Dagon HIV/AIDS clinic
Tin Moe Aung
Myanmar Times
November 29 - December 5, 2010
HIV/AIDS sufferers at a shelter in Yangon’s South Dagon township have been given a one-week reprieve on a decision by government officials that would have forced the patients to move to a new location, organisers of the centre said last week.
Patients had been notified on November 18 by officials from the local Ward Peace and Development Council that they would no longer be able to live at the centre after November 24.
But ward officials last week revised the eviction schedule by extending the deadline for HIV/AIDS patients to vacate the premises to December 1.
“At 7pm [on November 25] four people from our group went to the Ward Peace and Development Council’s office and requested that the patients be allowed to stay at the shelter, and the officials agreed to let them stay for one more week,” Daw Phyu Phyu Thin said.
The two-storey shelter – located adjacent to Daw Phyu Phyu Thin’s house at 376, Kanbawza 2nd Street, Ward 18/B in South Dagon township – was founded in 2005 and is a temporary home for about 80 HIV/AIDS patients, although the number changes daily.
“At first we thought it would be a very tough issue dealing with the officials [on November 25],” Daw Phyu Phyu Thin said.
“I waited at the shelter and when our people returned they said the officials had treated them nicely, had apologised for issuing the eviction notice, and had said the patients could stay for one more week.”
“Based on this, we are positive that they will allow the patients to live here in the future,” she said.
U Htin Aung, a volunteer for the group that runs the shelter, and a member of the delegation that went to the ward council on November 25, said everything went smoothly during the visit.
“The officials at the ward council office were very nice to us and agreed to allow the patients to stay at the shelter,” he said.
State-run New Light of Myanmar on November 24 reported that a medical team from the Ministry of Health, led by Dr Hla Myint, met with representatives of the centre on November 20 and urged them to make arrangements for the patients to undergo medical treatment at the government’s Special Hospital (Thaketa).
The report said allowing patients with infectious diseases to live together in the shelter’s limited space could lead to the spread of tuberculosis to among patients and even into the surrounding community.
http://www.mmtimes.com/2010/news/551/news55105.html
