Medical examinations by Canadian and German doctors on Feb. 14 failed to clear up the mystery surrounding the health of imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Respected online news website Ukrainska Pravda cited unnamed sources as saying on Feb. 15 that German doctors had concluded she had a herniated disc in her spine and needed surgery. But Raisa Moiseyenko, a deputy health minister, said such information isn’t mentioned in the papers that German and Canadian doctors handed to their Ukrainian colleagues. A Ukrainian member of the medical commission in charge of examining Tymoshenko, Yevhen Pedachenko, said the opposition leader does not require surgery. The foreign doctors left without comment.
The checks and conflicting reports added to the tension surrounding reports of Tymoshenko’s ill health, which led U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon to raise concerns earlier this month on a visit to Kyiv.
Family members and lawyers for Tymoshenko have complained of inactivity by the authorities in dealing with her deteriorating health since she was jailed for seven years on abuse-of-office charges in October. Officials have said she has been provided with the necessary treatment but was refusing examinations.
Serhiy Vlasenko, Tymoshenko’s lawyer, would neither confirm nor deny she suffers from a spinal hernia, citing privacy laws.
He said only Tymoshenko can decide whether she wants her diagnosis disclosed to the public.
Meanwhile, penitentiary system officials said Feb. 16 they are already considering getting Tymoshenko some work in the prison as soon as doctors declare her fit.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at onyshkiv@kyivpost.com
