The government should immediately see to Human Rights Party leader P Uthayakumar's medical needs in Kajang Prison, said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

Lim who was also jailed in the same prison during former premier Dr Mahathir Mohammad's rule, said the authorities should provide full medical treatment and facilities to assure Uthayakumar's family that he is safe.

uthayakumar wife indra "The BN federal government should abide by international laws on treatment of prisoners and on humanitarian grounds," he said in a statement today.

He was responding to Uthayakumar's wife S Indra Devi ( right ) who yesterday expressed concern that her husband may become paralysed as he was not receiving proper treatment for his degenerative disc disease.

She said that prison authorities have refused to provide him with a pillow and chair despite four doctors confirming his condition and that he needs the items.

dap special meeting 110313 lim guan eng "This is familiar to what I had endured when I was imprisoned under the Sedition Act and the Printing Presses and Publications Act in 1998, when I initially did not even have a thin mattress but had to sleep on the cold cement floor," said Lim.

Lim, who is Penang chief minister, said he will write a letter for the Home Ministry and Prison Department to meet Uthayakumar and hear out his medical complaints.

"Whatever political differences there is, our country should not lose one’s humanity by refusing medical treatment for political opponents," he said.