Soeharto suffers digestion bleeding: Doctor

Muninggar Sri Saraswati Jakarta

Former president Soeharto has to get blood transfusion in the next few days due to internal bleeding on his digestion track but overall his health condition is better than two years ago, a doctor says.

"Pak Harto is suffering from diverculitis. When he was admitted here, he suffered bleeding on his digestion canal. He has so far received some blood transfusions. We will do it everyday (until he gets better)," said Dr. Hermansyur, one of Soeharto's nine-member team of doctors.

Hermansyur was speaking during a press conference attended by Soeharto's medical team members including Dr. Kunindrodadi, who heads Soeharto's team of private doctors, intestine experts Dr. Waldemar Simanjuntak and Aziz Rani, and heart expert Dr. Yuniarti Tanjung.

Soeharto, 82, was brought to the Pertamina hospital in South Jakarta on Monday afternoon after complaining of being weak.

The bleeding, Aziz disclosed, originated from a wound in his digestion canal doctors had already detected in 2002.

"It's a relapse, which is common among people of his age," Aziz said.

Hermansyur admitted that Soeharto's health condition was better than in 2002.

"But, we don't know how long he will remain here," he said.

Kunindrodadi, meanwhile, said that the team of doctors would take care of Soeharto seriously due to his age and to detect relapse of possible other diseases he had in the past.

During the legislative election on April 5 Soeharto looked healthy. He walked unaided from his private house to the nearby polling station in the plush Menteng housing complex in Central Jakarta.

Soeharto was forced to resign from his presidential post in May 1998 after 33 years in office. Citing his poor health, his well-paid lawyers had managed to prevent the government from bringing him to justice for his alleged corruption.

The South Jakarta District Court shared the lawyers' argument and declared in 2002 that the prosecutors would indict Soeharto if he was healthy.

Since then, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) has asked Soeharto to undergo medical test twice after media reports suggested that he was healthy enough to attend a wedding ceremony of his granddaughter and to visit his favorite son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who is jailed for murder in the Nusakambangan penitentiary.

The team of doctors set up for the test said that Soeharto suffered from permanent brain damage after two strokes.