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Bouteflika visit questioned
21/04/2006 13:40 - (SA)
Paris - A leading French urologist has raised new doubts about explanations of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's health, suggesting it is worse than officials are letting on, according to a newspaper interview published on Friday.
France's Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday that Bouteflika, 69, was back in France, saying only that it was for a long-planned medical visit. He spent nearly five weeks here late last year, for what officials described then as a bleeding stomach ulcer.
Bernard Debre, head of the urology service at Paris' Cochin Hospital, was quoted as saying in Le Parisien newspaper that official statements "do not mesh with what is happening today."
Debre has not treated the Algerian leader.
"We shouldn't be taken for naive," Debre was quoted as saying. There were "more than doubts" about his health, he said.
"If at its origin, this was a simple ulcer, Algerian doctors could perfectly have treated it in 18 days," Debre said, according to the article. A follow-up visit for a stomach ulcer would require "a simple fibroscopic check that can be done in any Algerian hospital."
"We can wonder why Bouteflika has come to Paris for such a simple exam," added Debre, who also is a conservative parliamentary lawmaker.
When Bouteflika was brought to France last year, Debre speculated that he could be suffering from stomach cancer. The doctor once treated French President Francois Mitterrand.
The Algerian Embassy in Paris, contacted by The Associated Press, declined immediate comment about Debre's remarks.
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