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)