Jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was today diagnosed to be suffering from 'baseline' pneumonia which is a preliminary stage of the illness and has been warded at Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL).

His lawyer Sankara Nair when contacted said the ex-deputy premier was sent to the hospital this morning after a week-long bout of fever, cough and headache.

An examination later confirmed that he had 'baseline' pneumonia.

Asked how serious was his condition, Sankara replied: "I was told his condition is not extremely serious but cannot be taken lightly as well.

"That was why they decided to treat and observe him in the hospital. His coughing is really quite bad," he said.

The lawyer added that Anwar was expected to be warded at the hospital for several days.

Pneumonia is a serious infection or inflammation of the lungs where the air sacs in the lungs become filled with pus and other liquids.

Surgery risky

The 56-year-old deputy premier's latest health problem came in the wake of his refusal to obtain surgery, to be performed by local doctors, for his chronic back problem which has forced him to use a wheelchair.

Yesterday, his wife and Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail told malaysiakini that he rejected the offer to undergo a disc replacement surgery by a team of local experts.

She said after consulting family members and several specialists, it was decided that the surgery was risky as Anwar would be under general anaesthetic.

She added her husband was willing to endure the pain until the government permitted him to seek the treatment overseas.

Anwar's previous application to have an endoscopic surgery done in Germany by specialist Dr Thomas Hoogland was turned down by the authorities.

According to Wan Azizah, an endoscopic surgery entailed minimal surgical procedure and can be performed under local anesthesia.

Reliance of painkillers

She also expressed concern over her husband's reliance on painkillers which she feared would lead to other health complications.

Anwar, who was sacked from his government and party positions in 1998, hurt his back during a horse riding incident several years ago.

He is currently serving a 15-year jail term for abuse of power and sodomy, charges which he claimed were fabricated to oust him.

He accused Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad of engineering a conspiracy against him which was denied by his former political mentor.