DOCTORS GIVE UP ON IDI AMIN
DOCTORS have finally given ailing former President Idi Amin the status of “do not resuscitateâ€.
By Alfred Wasike
DOCTORS have finally given ailing former President Idi Amin the status of “do not resuscitateâ€.
This is the first time that Amin’s hitherto tight-lipped doctors have come out explicitly about his failing health.
Medical sources at King Faisal Specialist Hospital, a top Saudi medical centre in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, told Reuters and Sky News yesterday that “should he encounter further life threatening problems, resuscitation will not be attempted.â€
Amin, in his late 70s and liable for the murders of tens of thousands of Ugandans in the 1970s, has now been declared by doctors at the posh hospital to be in “near-death conditionâ€.
“He is alive but remains in a near-death condition in a coma,†the medical sources told news agencies, adding that Amin was on a ventilator.
Amin has been in exile, chiefly in Saudi Arabia, since being ousted from from Uganda in 1979.
Under his despotic 1971-79 rule, estimates blame the deaths of more than 400,000 on him.
A large and imposing figure, who enjoyed publicity, Amin came to power in 1971 after overthrowing President Milton Obote in a coup.
His rule was characterised by eccentric behaviour and violent purges.
Driven from Uganda by Tanzanian forces and Ugandan exiles, Amin, a Muslim, was given sanctuary by Saudi Arabia in the name of Islamic charity.
His health deteriorated for some time but he came out of a coma last week although was still said to be in serious condition.
The medical source said the former leader suffered from kidney, liver and respiratory failure.
“The last and probably fatal system failure would be cardiac arrest, after which there is effectively no hope,†the source said.
A former boxing champion who once expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, Amin has lived quietly in Jeddah on a government stipend with his four wives.
President Yoweri Museveni recently warned that he would arrest Amin for crimes against humanity should he try to return home alive but said that his relatives were free to return his body for burial in Uganda.
Amnesty commission chairperson Justice Peter Onega last week said Amin does not qualify for amnesty but Joseph Kony, whose Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is terrorising northern and north-eastern Uganda qualifies for forgiveness if he gave up rebellion and applied for amnesty.
Ends
DOCTORS have finally given ailing former President Idi Amin the status of “do not resuscitateâ€.
This is the first time that Amin’s hitherto tight-lipped doctors have come out explicitly about his failing health.
Medical sources at King Faisal Specialist Hospital, a top Saudi medical centre in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, told Reuters and Sky News yesterday that “should he encounter further life threatening problems, resuscitation will not be attempted.â€
Amin, in his late 70s and liable for the murders of tens of thousands of Ugandans in the 1970s, has now been declared by doctors at the posh hospital to be in “near-death conditionâ€.
“He is alive but remains in a near-death condition in a coma,†the medical sources told news agencies, adding that Amin was on a ventilator.
Amin has been in exile, chiefly in Saudi Arabia, since being ousted from from Uganda in 1979.
Under his despotic 1971-79 rule, estimates blame the deaths of more than 400,000 on him.
A large and imposing figure, who enjoyed publicity, Amin came to power in 1971 after overthrowing President Milton Obote in a coup.
His rule was characterised by eccentric behaviour and violent purges.
Driven from Uganda by Tanzanian forces and Ugandan exiles, Amin, a Muslim, was given sanctuary by Saudi Arabia in the name of Islamic charity.
His health deteriorated for some time but he came out of a coma last week although was still said to be in serious condition.
The medical source said the former leader suffered from kidney, liver and respiratory failure.
“The last and probably fatal system failure would be cardiac arrest, after which there is effectively no hope,†the source said.
A former boxing champion who once expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, Amin has lived quietly in Jeddah on a government stipend with his four wives.
President Yoweri Museveni recently warned that he would arrest Amin for crimes against humanity should he try to return home alive but said that his relatives were free to return his body for burial in Uganda.
Amnesty commission chairperson Justice Peter Onega last week said Amin does not qualify for amnesty but Joseph Kony, whose Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is terrorising northern and north-eastern Uganda qualifies for forgiveness if he gave up rebellion and applied for amnesty.
Ends