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PM Ariel Sharon leaves after speaking to journalists at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Tuesday. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners December 20, 2005 |
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A smiling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was released from the hospital on Tuesday, saying he was in a hurry and fit enough to get back to work after suffering a mild stroke two days earlier.
Sharon returned to the fray just hours after his bitter rival, Benjamin Netanyahu, won the race to replace him as head of the battered Likud Party. Sharon quit the Likud last month because it resisted his plan to move forward on a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Maariv quoted Hadassah medical staffmembers as saying that the rosy prognosis and description of events did not convey the truth of the seriousness of Sharon's initial disorientation. "What was said at the press conference was, to make an understatement, inexact," they said. "The prime minister did not know what day it was, what time is was or where he was. For 45 minutes he could not count or perform basic movements. They [hospital officials] are not obliged to disclose everything, but to give inaccurate information is already taking a position [on the matter of Sharon'shealth] and is highly problematic. Throughout the first night of his hospitalization the confusion continued, to a lesser extent, and Sharon has not returned to himself completely."
Sharon's illness raised questions about his ability to lead his new party, Kadima, into March elections, and then lead the country if elected to a third term. On Tuesday, the prime minister shrugged off those concerns.
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"What was said at the press conference was, to make an understatement, inexact. The prime minister did not know what day it was, what time is was or where he was. For 45 minutes he could not count or perform basic movements.... Throughout the first night of his hospitalization the confusion continued, to a lesser extent, and Sharon has not returned to himself completely."
Hadassah Hospital medical staff, commenting on inaccurate reports of PM Sharon's condition upon arrival, as quoted in Maariv
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"Now I have to rush back to work," he told reporters as he left Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital. Asked if the stroke affected his performance, Sharon replied, "I don't think it will affect my functioning."
Sharon was rushed to Hadassah on Sunday evening and had not been seen or heard publicly since he was hospitalized. Doctors at Hadassah said the stroke briefly affected his speech, but didn't impair his memory or cognitive abilities, or leave permanent damage.
Hadassah official Shlomo Mor-Yosef said there were no major restrictions on Sharon's activities.
"He obviously could lose some weight, like many people," Mor-Yosef said of the obese, 77-year-old prime minister. "He should scale back his activities. We recommend that he gradually resume his regular schedule over the next few days."
Doctors say Sharon is generally in good health, but have been advising him to lose weight since 1965.
Sharon spokesman Asaf Shariv said aides haven't broached the subject of dieting with Sharon during his hospital stay, and that the prime minister hadn't brought it up, either.
New polls Tuesday showed Sharon - Israel's most popular politician - gaining ground after his stroke, with Likud still languishing. If poll trends hold, Kadima would be able to form a moderate coalition following the March balloting, and a Netanyahu-led Likud would head a right-wing opposition.
A survey by the Dahaf Research Institute published Tuesday gave Sharon's Kadima party 39 of parliament's 120 seats, or one more than in a survey last week. Ninety-one percent of
those questioned said Sharon's stroke would not influence their vote.
The AP contributed to this report.
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