SHARON
JERUSALEM (AP):
ISRAELI PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a 'significant' stroke yesterday, a hospital official said, after Sharon was taken to the hospital from his ranch in the Negev desert.
Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said Sharon suffered a cerebral haemorrhage, is under general anaesthetic and is receiving breathing assistance and was being taken for treatment. Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon said Sharon's authorities have been transferred to his vice premier, Ehud Olmert.
In a brief statement outside the hospital, Mor-Yosef said Sharon had suffered 'a significant stroke,' adding that he was "under anaesthetic and receiving breathing assistance."
Channel 2 TV said Sharon was suffering from paralysis in his lower body. Analysts on Israeli TV stations said he life could be in danger. Channel 2 TV said he was taken into the hospital on a stretcher.
Sharon, 77, is extremely overweight, but doctors checking him after the mild stroke December 18 found him otherwise in good health. Since then, his doctors said in a briefing a week ago, Sharon has lost several kilograms (pounds).
The dramatic downturn in Sharon's health comes as Sharon runs for re-election on March 28 at the head of a new centrist party, Kadima, and he enjoys a wide lead in the polls. The party's strength is centred on Sharon himself, and if he were forced to leave the scene. Israel's political scene would be thrown into turmoil.
Sharon's office said his personal physician was with him. He was taken by ambulance, a drive of more than an hour from his ranch in the Negev Desert in Israel's south, instead of by helicopter.
On Dec. 18, Sharon was taken to Hadassah Hospital from his office after suffering a mild stroke. Doctors said he would not suffer long-term effects from the stroke, but they discovered a birth defect in his heart that apparently contributed to the stroke.
Security agents and police spread out around the Jerusalem hospital before Sharon arrived, setting up a security perimeter.
Since the first stroke, Sharon has been receiving blood thinners to try to prevent a recurrence of the clotting that caused the stroke.
Sharon was to check into the Jerusalem hospital on Thursday for the procedure repairing a tiny hole between the upper chambers of his heart. Doctors said the blood clot that briefly lodged in Sharon's brain on Dec. 18, causing the stroke, made its way through the hold and from there to a cranial artery.
