NEWS - Myanmar Reopens Closed Medic

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

Subject: NEWS - Myanmar Reopens Closed Medical Institutes

Myanmar Reopens Closed Medical Institutes

            Reuters
            05-JAN-99

            YANGON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government
            on Tuesday said it had reopened four medical institutes--
            three in the capital Yangon and one in Mandalay-- after
            closing them down for about two years. 

            Undergraduate classes in the four institutes and in another
            two dozen other universities and colleges nationwide were
            suspended a few days before qualifying examinations in
            mid-December 1996 amid anti-government demonstrations
            by thousands of students. 

            The universities and colleges were briefly opened in
            September 1998 to hold examinations for students. 

            Political analysts in Yangon believed that the reopening of
            the institutes by the government could be an experiment to
            test the atmosphere for reopening other institutes of higher
            learning. 

            "Institute of Medicine-I (Yangon), Institute of Medicine (2)
            (Yangon), Institute of Medicine (Mandalay) and Institute of
            Dental Medicine (Yangon) reopened with effect from January
            5, 1999," a statement from the defence ministry's Office of
            Strategic Studies (OSS) said, without giving further
details. 

            The OSS is the spokesman for the ruling State Peace and
            Development Council (SPDC). 

            Officials of the reopened institutes were not immediately
            available for comment on the situation at their campuses on
            Tuesday. But witnesses said the atmosphere was calm. 

            About 5,000 students are enrolled at the four institutes.