A political activist who was sentenced to 65 years in prison for his involvement in the Saffron Revolution demonstrations has been hospitalized as an emergency patient at the local hospital in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State in western Burma.
Ko Kyi Than, who has been serving a lengthy prison term for his political conscience in the Sittwe Prison is suffering from severe pneumonia and was sent to the public hospital from the prison on 17 July, 2011.
"It is very sorrowful for him because the prison authority has allowed him to take medical treatment outside the hospital after his disease became very serious. He has been suffering from severe pneumonia and had to be transfused five liters of blood, and is still undergoing treatment in the hospital," said one of his close associates.
Ko Kyi Than is a resident of Ward 10 in Thakayta Township in Rangoon Division and is also known to be one of the student leaders who activated the well-known nationwide democracy uprising in 1988.
His friend said his present health condition has improved in the hospital, but there are still concerns that he will be taken back to prison before being completely cured because the food and accomodation in the prison, as well as the current weather in Sittwe, is very poor.
He said his younger sister from Rangoon would arrive today in Sittwe to visit him, and he also seems to be willing to see his family because he is unwell. It was also learned that a number of police have been deployed at the hospital since Ko Kyi Than was admitted.
