There will be no medical checks-up for leaders of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) who will visit Thailand to
attend the ASEAN Summit of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
early next week, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Friday.
Thaksin said that leaders and ministers of other ASEAN member
countries attending the ASEAN Summit on SARS, to be hosted by
Thailand on April 29, would be honored and would not face medical
checks-up when entering the country, according to a report of Thai
News Agency.
ASEAN now groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The Thai leader said that his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao was
also invited to attend the ASEAN Summit on SARS.
"The ASEAN and Chinese leaders will be honored and will not face
medical checks-up upon their arrival at the Bangkok International
Airport, as we believe that they will visit Thailand only when they
are in good health", he was quoted as saying.
The Thai leader said, however, that other officials and delegates
accompanying the ASEAN and Chinese leaders would have to follow the
Ministry of Public Health's strict control on SARS and face medical
checks-up upon their arrival in the kingdom.
Thailand, whose measures to prevent and control SARS have been
praised by the World Health Organization (WHO), will propose three
preventive measures on the new deadly disease at the upcoming ASEAN
Summit.
They include pushing for 100 percent protection in hospitals,
quarantining anyone in contact with SARS patients, and watching out
for potential cases of SARS at all immigration points into the
country.
(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2003)