Turkmenistan Plague

OK, first of all, am I to understand that Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov has banned diagnosing patients with infectious disease? That aside, reports say the country may be facing a plague epidemic, and Uzbekistan has already implemented health controls at border crossings. If these reports are accurate - and I've been burned believing such things from Central Asia in the past - the country could be facing a major crisis, as the government has replaced many trained medical personnel with military conscripts.

UPDATE: Nathan Hamm's weekly round-up, among other interesting and important things, mentions that Russia has also taken some steps.