Ruzomberok, central Slovakia, 11 January: Slovak soldiers who were or are deployed in the Kfor [Kosovo force] peacekeeping mission in Kosovo will, in connection with what is called "Balkans syndrome", undergo a medical examination in the Ruzomberok military hospital next week, hospital head Igor Combor told CTK today.

"We will do an overall internal examination of the soldiers, with a focus on signs of tumor, blood creation possible failures, the function of kidneys and skin diseases," Combor said.

Since some of the veterans have shown mistrust in the military hospital, the hospital will cooperate with civil clinics in Kosice [eastern Slovakia] and Bratislava, Combor said. "We have also sent our specialists to leading clinics in Hradec Kralove, eastern Bohemia, and Prague, which are interested in cooperation," Combor added.

Ruzomberok doctors are ready to examine the health conditions of soldiers from the Balkans over a long period of time, he said.

Combor said the examination will concern about 127 soldiers. Almost 100 of them are in Slovakia at present, while the remaining ones are still serving in Kosovo.

According to Defense Ministry spokeswoman Ingrid Stanova, the ministry has also turned to NATO to find out whether Slovak soldiers in the SFOR [Stabilization force] mission in Bosnia might have been endangered, too.

Slovak veterans already underwent an overall examination immediately after their return home. None of them has had health problems.

Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1354 GMT 11 Jan 01

(C) 2001 BBC Monitoring