By Andrew Hay
MADRID (Reuters) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro is making a "slow but
progressive" recovery although his condition is serious due to his
advanced age, a Spanish doctor who has examined him said on Friday.
Castro, 80, has suffered complications after undergoing surgery on his
digestive system but could return to normal activities if he makes a
full recovery, Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido told Reuters in an interview.
"I have recent information that his recovery is slow but progressive,"
said Garcia Sabrido, who examined Castro in Havana late last year and is
a consultant to his medical team.
Cuba's communist leadership has maintained intense secrecy around
Castro's health crisis which forced the revolutionary leader to
relinquish power to his brother Raul on July 31.
Castro has not been seen in public since July, fuelling speculation he
is so ill he may never return to power.
Garcia Sabrido, head of surgery at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon public
hospital, said the outlook for any 80-year-old patient who suffered
complications after surgery was always very serious.
"For a patient of his age, who has had complications after an operation,
it's always going to be a general prognosis," he said when asked if
Castro was in a "very serious condition", as reported by Spain's El Pais
newspaper on Monday.
"Any imbalance can naturally cause complications. We don't have the
ability to foretell what is going to happen with this, but we have the
ability to observe what is happening," Garcia Sabrido said.
He declined to comment on when he was last briefed on Castro's health.
RUMOUR, SPECULATION
The surgeon largely dismissed other reports in El Pais this week that
Castro had undergone three botched operations for diverticulitis or
bulges in the large intestine.
On Tuesday the paper, citing two medical sources at Garcia Sabrido's
hospital, reported Castro decided to avoid a colostomy and opt for a
riskier operation that failed.
A colostomy, the usual procedure for diverticulitis after removing part
of the intestine, is an opening in the abdomen to release stool into an
external bag.
But Garcia Sabrido criticized the El Pais articles.
"They are full of inaccuracies -- they are fundamentally rumours, and in
some extreme cases absolutely false," said the doctor, who regularly
visits Cuba for medical conferences and medical consultations.
He said he did not know who El Pais's sources were, but recommended
scrutiny regarding reports on Castro's health.
"Good, good information, comes from few sources, the rest you can
consider rumour and in some cases speculation," he said.
Ana Alfageme, one of the El Pais reporters who wrote the stories, told
Reuters Garcia Sabrido was not their source.
The doctor's prognosis has changed little since Dec. 26 when, on his
return from examining Castro, he said the leader did not have cancer and
could even return to power.
"If his recovery is complete, it is a personal decision," Garcia Sabrido
said on Friday of a possible Castro comeback.
His outlook contrasts with that of U.S. intelligence officials who
expect Castro to die within months.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a Castro ally, said on Tuesday the
Cuban leader's recovery was slow and not without risks.
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