Gus Dur fit for office: Doctor

Gus Dur fit for office: Doctor

JAKARTA (JP): Chief of President Abdurrahman Wahid's medical
team denied on Friday reports suggesting that the head of state
was medically unfit to perform presidential duties.

"His health is good and there is no problem," Umar Wahid, who
is also Abdurrahman's younger brother, said, adding that the
President had a routine medical checkup on Thursday.

He denied reports that presidential doctors had sent a letter
to the House of Representatives (DPR) suggesting that
Abdurrahman, who has been criticized for his erratic leadership,
was not fit to run the country.

Umar also questioned the validity of the medical reports now
being studied by some House legislators. He said the reports had
been written by doctors who had never examined the President and
were based on secondhand information.

Umar was referring to House Speaker Akbar Tandjung's statement
on Thursday that the DPR would meet with a team of four doctors
on Monday to hear their report on the President's health
condition.

The team consists of neurologist Soeharko Kasran,
ophthalmologist Rahman R. Saman, physician Hadiwitarto and
psychiatrist Suryanto.

Copies of the medical report, circulated at the House, suggest
that, from a medical perspective, Abdurrahman, who is clinically
blind and has been weakened by at least two strokes and diabetes,
is no longer fit to carry out his duties.

Abdurrahman's poor sight and history of strokes was ignored by
his proponents, the loose coalition of Muslim-based parties
called the Axis Force, who nominated him for the presidency in
1999.

Akbar admitted later in the day that the report was only the
four doctors' personal analysis and not based on a direct medical
examination of Gus Dur, as the President is commonly known.

"Legislators who are interested in the issue could take it to
their own faction for discussion by the House's consultative
body," he said, adding that, in his opinion, the President was
medically fit for office.

Deputy House Speaker A.M. Fatwa insisted, however, that the
doctors' analysis was valid.

"I recently asked the President to step down voluntarily
because I know he is physically unfit to carry out his
presidential duties," Fatwa, a leading figure in the Axis Force,
said.

Separately, chairman of the Indonesian Medical Association
(IDI) Achmad Djojosugito said on Friday that publishing medical
records of a person without the latter's consent is a violation
of the profession's code of ethics.

"A doctor, according to the code, is obliged to treat all
patients equally, especially concerning the privacy of a
patient's health status.

"The health status of a patient is the right of the latter to
know ... and only he or she has the sole right to reveal it to
other parties or the public," he said.

The patient, however, can ask the doctor to notify other
parties on their behalf, he added.

"Therefore, if doctors deliberately reveal a person's health
status for certain interests, they could be considered as having
violated the code of ethics," he said.

Achmad added that it is also the patient's right to seek a
second opinion concerning his or her illness.

"But still, the original doctor is obliged to keep the
patient's medical status confidential," he added.

Meanwhile, rector of the Purwokerto-based Jendral Soedirman
University, Rubiyanto Misman, accused the four doctors of having
political motives.

"The medical report was a censure to the President. It's part
of the political maneuver to topple Gus Dur," he told The Jakarta
Post. (45/byg/edt/rms)