ياشاسين آذربايجان - Long live Azerbaijan

.

Former Indonesian dictator Suharto’s condition worsened overnight, and he needs a second pacemaker and will likely undergo dialysis, a member of the presidential medical team said Saturday. “The team of presidential doctors … explained that his condition is critical,” President

---

---

Former Indonesian dictator Suharto was in critical condition Saturday, the president said, as dozens of doctors were rushed to a hospital in the capital to evaluate treatment options for kidney and heart trouble.

Former Indonesian dictator Suharto’s condition worsened overnight, and he needs a second pacemaker and will likely undergo dialysis, a member of the presidential medical team said Saturday.

“The team of presidential doctors … explained that his condition is critical,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters.

The 86-year-old, who brutally ruled Indonesia for more than three decades until being toppled by a pro-democracy uprising in 1998, has been in and out of the hospital in recent years for strokes and intestinal bleeding.

He was readmitted Friday to the capital’s Pertamina Hospital after falling ill at home several days ago. Doctors had said his condition was not life-threatening, but that appeared to have changed Saturday.

“We are afraid he could suffer organ failure, so we have recruited some specialists from several hospitals to try everything to avoid organ failure,” Dr. Joko Raharjo told The Associated Press.

“We can say his condition has worsened, is more serious than before … another heart pacemaker needs to be fitted,” he told reporters earlier at the hospital.

Suharto’s kidney and lung functions also had deteriorated and he will likely undergo dialysis, he added. Medications were being administered through an intravenous drip and the former leader was conscious, but drowsy.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono “prayed for the health of Suharto” during a morning hospital visit, Raharjo said.

Suharto has lived a secluded life in a mansion on a leafy lane in Jakarta and is rarely seen in public. Two years after his ouster, prosecutors filed charges that he embezzled $600 million in public funds, but legal proceedings were suspended because of his poor health.

He is said to have suffered permanent brain damage and some speech loss from the ailments, but during recent Islamic holidays received a stream of high-profile guests and gave a rare media interview in November after winning a defamation lawsuit against Time magazine.

Time published allegations that Suharto and his family had amassed up to $15 billion in stolen state funds. Transparency International has said the Suharto family amassed more than twice that amount.

In the interview with Gatra news magazine, Suharto vowed to donate most of the $106 million in damages he won from Time to the poor. Time is appealing the Supreme Court decision.

Critics “can say what they want. It is empty talk,” the former army general said in the rare comments. “The fact is I have never committed corruption.”cnn

, Voice of a Nation

---

Share This | Print