Sharon 'has opened his eyes'

2006-01-16 11:29

Jerusalem - The website of the Yediot Ahronot newspaper on Monday reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opened his eyes on Monday for the first time since suffering a massive stroke on January 4.

Sharon has been comatose since the stroke, and outside experts have said he is liable to have suffered extensive brain damage.

Hospital officials weren't immediately available for comment.

"He was listening to a tape of his grandson and you could see tears in his eyes for a matter of seconds before he closed them again," one doctor at the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Another medical source confirmed that Sharon had opened his eyes for a matter of seconds.

Hard to say what it meant

There was no immediate comment from the hospital where Sharon was admitted suffering a massive brain haemorrhage on January 4.

However a statement from the Hadassah hospital said only that Sharon's family had spotted some movement in the prime minister's eyelids.

A medical source said that Sharon's son Gilad was in the room at the time.

"In response to questions about Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opening his eyes, we are talking about an impression received by family members in response to movement of his upper eyelids," said the hospital statement.

"The medical significance of this is not yet clear."

However a senior hospital official quoted by Y-net, the website of Israel's main Yediot Aharonot newspaper, said the 77-year-old prime minister had opened his eyes twice.

The official said it was too early to tell whether the opening of his eyes represented a significant development or was just a temporary reflex.

The development comes after doctors performed a successful tracheotomy on Sharon on Sunday evening in order to assist his breathing.

Medical sources have been increasingly pessimistic about Sharon's chances of making a recovery the longer that he remains in a coma. - AP/AFP

- News24