Castro is recovering, insists doctor

A Spanish doctor yesterday stood by his opinion that Fidel Castro is recovering from stomach surgery despite a newspaper report stating the Cuban leader is in a serious condition after a number of failed operations.

Surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who examined Castro in December, has not changed his prognosis that the 80-year-old is slowly recovering after treatment, his secretary said.

"Nothing has changed since he spoke in December, nothing at all," the secretary said when asked if the surgeon had changed his standpoint.

The comments followed a report in Spain's El Pais newspaper yesterday that Castro was in a serious condition after operations to his large intestine for diverticulitis, or an inflamed bulge in the intestine, complicated by infection.

Castro's prognosis is "very serious" and he is being fed intravenously, the paper said, citing two medical sources at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital, where Garcia Sabrido is head of surgery.

Garcia Sabrido's office said he had made no new statements on Castro's condition, and did not plan any further comment.

Castro, who has not been seen in public since July and whose illness is being treated as a state secret, suffered a serious infection that worsened to peritonitis, El Pais said.

Garcia Sabrido told reporters in December that Castro did not have cancer and could return to govern Cuba if he made a full recovery from surgery.

Stitch healing problems

On Monday, a Latin American diplomat close to Havana said Castro was having problems with the healing of his stitches after stomach surgery.

The diplomat, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, was among one of the presidential delegations in Quito for the swearing in of leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa. "Fidel has problems with his stitches healing," the diplomat said.

Diverticulitis is a condition in which pouch-like bulges in the wall of the intestine become inflamed or infected.

In the first operation to remove part of Castro's large intestine, Cuban surgeons decided to connect the colon to the rectum to avoid a colostomy or opening in the abdomen to get rid of stool, the newspaper said.

But the short-cut failed, releasing feces into the abdomen that caused another peritonitis, the report said.

A second operation to clean and drain the infected area and perform a colostomy was also a failure, the paper said.

Castro underwent a third operation to implant a Korean-made prothesis, but it did not work and was replaced by one brought from Spain, according to El Pais.

When Garcia visited Castro in late December, Cuban doctors were considering yet another operation, the paper said.

"The patient required drainage for more than half a liter of fluids a day, which is causing him a severe loss of nutrients," the paper reported.

If confirmed, the details reported by El Pais are the first detailed account of Castro's recent clinical history.

US officials have said they suspect Castro could be terminally ill with cancer.

source: China Daily/Agencies