Chinese doctors to check Gus Dur's health

JAKARTA (JP): Three Chinese doctors will soon arrive in Jakarta to check on the health of President Abdurrahman Wahid and First Lady Sinta Nuriyah, aides said on Wednesday.

Citing a remark from presidential medical team chairman Umar Wahid, who is also Abdurrahman's brother, the Presidential Secretariat said the team of Chinese doctors would combine modern and traditional methods of medical treatment.

"The Chinese medical experts will administer traditional medical treatment to the Head of State," it said in a statement.

Their visit follows the medical inspection the President and his wife underwent in Beijing earlier this month.

The medical team will comprise Tang You-Zhi, chairman of the Chinese Society for the Integration of Traditional and Western Medicine, Lu Li-Zhu and Qian Yi Xian.

"A combination of modern and traditional methods of medical treatment has been practiced by Chinese doctors for many years," the statement quoted Umar as saying.

During their three-day state visit to China, the First Couple went for a checkup at the Ophthalmological Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Dec. 2.

"There is still hope for me to see again," Abdurrahman pronounced after the checkup in Beijing.

The President also had a medical checkup at the Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, in November. Doctors concluded the vision in his right eye had been reduced to 20 percent while his left eye was permanently impaired, due to the combined effects of diabetes, high blood pressure and strokes.

The American doctors recommended Abdurrahman return for further observation and possible treatment in April.

The First Lady has been confined to a wheelchair since becoming half-paralyzed following a traffic accident on a toll road near Jakarta in early 1993.

Abdurrahman has said his health and that of his wife would not prevent them from dedicating themselves to the nation. "Seeing or not, walking or not, we are ready to serve the nation," he vowed just a few days after his election as president on Oct. 20. (prb)