New team checks Soeharto's health
New team checks Soeharto's health
JAKARTA (JP): Complying with prosecutors' requests for a
second opinion of former president Soeharto's health, a new
medical team conducted on Saturday comprehensive tests on the
country's ex-ruler.
The results will be officially announced before the next
hearing of Soeharto's corruption trial at the agriculture
ministry in Ragunan, South Jakarta, on Sept. 28.
"The doctors have agreed not to issue any statements prior to
the next hearing of Soeharto's corruption case," secretary to the
examination team, Budi Sampurna, told journalists while leaving
the hospital on Saturday.
The nine-hour examination was carried out at Pertamina
Hospital in South Jakarta. It included tests on Soeharto's
physical and psychological condition and his nervous system, and
lipid and thyroid profiles. It also used a magnetic resonance
imaging device to scan an image of the former strongman's brain.
Vice chairman of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital Soepardi
Soedibyo, who was assigned as an observer to Saturday's
examination, said the team completed the tests earlier than the
two days that had originally been scheduled.
"The examination went so smoothly that it finished earlier
than expected. The team will discuss the results starting from
tomorrow," Soepardi said.
The venue for the medical examination was switched from the
Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.
"We decided to move the venue to Pertamina Hospital after
learning that Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital is close to the
demonstration-prone area of Salemba," Antasari Azhar, head of the
South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, said.
The decision was made in a meeting at Hotel Kristal in
Terogong area, South Jakarta, on Friday evening. The hotel is the
official residence of the doctors' team.
Soeharto arrived at a tightly guarded Pertamina Hospital a few
minutes before 7 a.m. in a dark blue Volkswagen Caravelle van,
driven by his second son Bambang Trihatmodjo. He was accompanied
by his three daughters, lawyers and private medical team.
He was wheeled into VVIP (very-very important person) suite
No. 604 in the main building, where the tests took place.
He looked pale when leaving the building, but managed to smile
and wave to the crowds before entering the van.
The 79-year-old former president is being tried on graft
charges involving some US$571 million of state funds in his
capacity as the chairman of seven charity foundations.
Soeharto failed to appear at the courtroom for the previous
two hearings due to his ailing condition.
As a result, presiding judge Lalu Mariyun ordered prosecutors
to set up a new medical team to determine Soeharto's condition.
The team comprises experts from the Indonesia Medical Doctors
Association (IDI), the Ministry of Health, the University of
Indonesia, Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University and Surabaya-
based Airlangga University.
Separately, IDI chairman Merdias Almatsier said the
association would not tolerate the establishment of any other
medical team.
"In our opinion, this team is final and it's not necessary to
form another one," he said in a statement on Saturday.
"Why? Because this team, like the previous two medical teams
-- the diagnostic doctors assigned by the Attorney General's
Office to gauge Soeharto's fitness to stand trial and the
dispensing doctors who are responsible of his medication --
consist of independent and objective doctors who are impartial
and professional," he said. (bby/edt)