Soeharto's health condition improves

JAKARTA (JP): Former president Soeharto is recovering from complications following an appendectomy late last month, his lawyer said on Sunday.

Mohamad Assegaf said Soeharto was in a stable condition and was no longer suffering from the effects of the minor surgery.

"He is getting better since he underwent the appendectomy. His health condition is stable ... it's just the same as before," he told The Jakarta Post by phone.

Soeharto, who will turn 80 this June, was hospitalized for seven days at Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta on Feb. 24 and allowed to return home even though he had not fully recovered.

The state-appointed team of physicians from the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) considered that it was better for Soeharto to be treated at home as he had been suffering "emotional distress" which resulted in high blood pressure and left him short of breath.

Similarly, Assegaf said that it is better for Soeharto to receive medical treatment at his own home on Jl. Cendana in Central Jakarta, where his client feels comfortable.

"The RSCM team of doctors, in cooperation with Soeharto's team of private doctors, are now providing intensive treatment," he said, while adding that they checked his client's health condition on a daily basis.

Soeharto, the defendant in a US$571 million graft case, was placed under treatment supervised and paid for by the state to ensure that the former ruler is fit enough to stand trial.

He has been charged with amassing wealth at the expense of the state and channeling funds to his family and cronies.

Last year, the South Jakarta District Court dropped the case because it found that the defendant was too ill to stand trial.

Soeharto was reported to have suffered permanent brain damage as a result of three strokes he experienced after stepping down from the presidency in the middle of 1998.

Chief prosecutor Muchtar Arifin said earlier on Thursday that the RSCM physicians had carried out neurological treatment on Soeharto which will soon be followed up with psychiatric treatment.

"Soeharto is getting better, much better than when he left the (Pertamina) hospital on March 2.

"The RSCM doctors decided to allow him to be treated at his home until the end of this month and will later evaluate whether to take him to a hospital for further treatment," he said. (bby)