Arafat in 'reversible coma'

2004-11-05 09:30

Paris - A spokesperson for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Leila Shahid, denied on Friday that he was brain dead, saying the 75-year-old was in a "reversible coma" in his hospital near Paris.

The statement, made in an interview with the private French radio station RTL, came amid widespread speculation over the fate of Arafat, who was transferred to a French hospital outside Paris on October 29. "The doctors don't have a diagnosis," Shahid said. "All vital organs are functioning ... he could or could not wake up."

Some reports on Thursday said Arafat had died, but both French medical officials and Palestinian officials close to him have denied this.

Outside the hospital, about 50 well-wishers held a vigil late into the night. Some held candles, others Arafat portraits; a large Palestinian flag hung from the hospital's outer wall.

No one can take his place

"It tears your heart up," said Mahmod Nimr, 36, an unemployed Palestinian by the main gate of the hospital. "I can't see someone taking his place."

On a day of high drama, there were persistent and contradictory reports about Arafat's condition.

Luxembourg's prime minister announced at a summit of European leaders in Brussels on Thursday that Arafat had died, but his spokesperson later said it had been a "misunderstanding."

The Israeli television network Channel Two reported that Arafat was brain dead but remained on life support.

But Arafat's personal physician, Dr Ashraf Kurdi, said that a brain scan showed Arafat had not suffered a haemorrhage or stroke, and "has no type of brain death."

Brain death occurs when the brain stops working, making it impossible for the body to maintain its own vital functions, such as breathing.

It is irreversible. Patients can be kept alive by a machine, as long as the heart is still beating and nothing is seriously wrong with the rest of the body.

Recovering

French television station LCI quoted an anonymous French medical official as saying Arafat was in an "irreversible coma" and "intubated" - a process that involves threading a tube down the windpipe to the lungs to connect it to a life-support machine to help the patient breathe.

A Palestinian official in Gaza who is close to Arafat's wife, Suha, said she told him Arafat fell unconscious after receiving a strong anaesthetic for a biopsy.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, quoted her as saying Arafat was recovering.

Palestinian leaders held an emergency meeting in the West Bank, and Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said top officials were in touch with Arafat's hospital every 30 minutes to check on his condition.

- AFP