Soeharto now treated by RSCM doctors team

JAKARTA (JP): The appointed team of physicians from the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) officially took charge on Wednesday of the treatment of former president Soeharto, who is currently hospitalized following an appendectomy.

South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office chief Antasari Azhar, who is handling the case, said that this was in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling last month ordering the prosecutors to ensure Soeharto was fit enough to face trial, if at all possible.

"The RSCM doctors have accepted the responsibility of curing Soeharto in cooperation with the latter's private doctors," he told journalists at the privately-run Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta, where Soeharto was being treated.

The prosecutors and five members of the medical team, led by RSCM vice director for medical services Ichramsjah A. Rachman, came to the hospital to coordinate with its management, doctors and Soeharto's medical team.

Soeharto was rushed to the hospital on Saturday for minor surgery and has been hospitalized pending his recovery.

Chief prosecutor Muchtar Arifin said that doctors had informed him that the 79-year-old Soeharto was suffering from surgery- related complications.

"There are problems with his lungs and stomach," he told journalists at the hospital, adding that Soeharto was still being fed intravenously.

According to Soeharto's lawyer Juan Felix Tampubolon, his client would stay in the hospital for the next two days as he had yet to recover.

Juan said that his client still had the right to have his own medical team even though the RSCM doctors were fully responsible and had full authority in respect of Soeharto's course of treatment.

"I know that some of my client's doctors are also included in the state's team, which is good because they have treated pak Harto for some time now and surely they known more than anyone about the real condition of my client," he said after the meeting with the prosecutors and RSCM doctors.

Soeharto has been charged with having amassed some US$571 million at the expense of the state and to have channeled the funds to his family and cronies. Last year, the South Jakarta District Court dropped the case because the defendant was too ill to stand trial. (bby)