The Anwar health saga continues
Surgeon confirms Anwar requires surgery

Anwar Ibrahim’s health condition seems to have attracted much controversy, including an accusation by Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that Anwar is faking his back problem.

FAC News spoke to Dr Halili, a renowned local surgeon from a government hospital, and this is what he said:

After two months of non-surgical treatment, Anwar’s condition has not improved. Anwar is clearly in great pain due to pressure being subjected on his nerve.

All of us unanimously agree that immediate surgery is required to correct the problem.

But it is not as simple as that. There are different types of surgery that can be considered. And it is the legal right of the patient and his family to decide on the type of surgery to opt for.

The three different techniques available are the conventional open surgery, endoscopic surgery and microscopic surgery. It is up to the patient and the family to decide on which technique they want. This is their right.

The trouble is, while the conventional open surgery technique is available locally, the other two techniques are still new to Malaysia and we don’t know much about them.

Our professional opinion is we should invite the German expert to Malaysia so that he can examine Anwar and review the situation. We won’t know which surgical technique is best for Anwar until the German spine specialist examines Anwar.

We must remember that the risks attached to any type of surgery are always present. Some techniques, of course, have lower risks than others do. And we must also note that the risks with open or conventional surgery are higher compared to the newer techniques.

The purpose of surgery is not only to correct Anwar's spinal problem, but also to relieve the pain associated with the problem. However, in some cases I have seen, the pain after surgery became worse than before surgery was done.

I have even seen cases where a second surgery was required. But even that did not help.

In some cases that we could not handle locally and had to send overseas for the second surgery to be done, they could not do anything for the patient.

We must remember, once we do surgery and it fails, we cannot undo the surgery. Once it is done it is done. That's it.

If the surgery fails, and it results in more pain than before the surgery, the patient will suffer for the rest of his life. There is no guarantee that a second surgery can be done, or even if it can, that it would be successful.

That’s why the patient and his or her family must decide whether to opt for surgery or not, and what type of surgery to opt for. The doctors cannot make this decision for them.

All of us agree that if Anwar chooses any of the newer techniques, it would be best that we draw upon foreign expertise who have more experience in these techniques.

It’s also good for us. Our local doctors will also be able to learn from this. We hope we would be invited for the operation and that we would be allowed to ask questions and learn from the experience.

Let’s not forget that the whole objective of surgery is to relieve the pain the patient is suffering from. That and only that should be the objective. Therefore, whatever we decide, must be based on this one objective. If what we are going to do not only does not relieve the pain but actually makes the pain worse, then why go through the whole exercise?

That’s why the final decision must be the patient’s. The patient must decide. No one else should make this decision on his or her behalf.

And that too is what the law provides for.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

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