(AFP) - A foreign doctor has ruled out operating on jailed Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim at the hospital where the government said any surgery must be conducted.

Dr Thomas Hoogland, in a statement released today by Anwar's lawyers, said the government's attitude and inadequate facilities "forces me to withdraw my option" of operating at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, where Anwar is currently being treated.

Hoogland also said it would be difficult for him to operate at any other hospital in Malaysia because of "negative views" expressed in the local media by some hospital medical staff and the health minister.

The Dutch specialist reiterates that in Anwar's interests the operation should be performed in his clinic in Germany - an option the goverment has rejected.

He says it is a patient's right "to choose the type and method of surgery or doctor".

Acute back pain

The ex-deputy premier is serving a 15-year jail term for abuse of power and sodomy. Anwar says he is a political prisoner who was framed on the orders of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad - an accusation denied by the government.

He has been in hospital since Nov 25 with acute back pain due to a slipped disc, which he blames partly on a 1998 assault by the then-police chief.

The government insists Anwar undergo surgery in Kuala Lumpur Hospital, with specialists and equipment flown in if necessary.

Hoogland has said Anwar should have surgery by the end of this month. Without an operation his pain would continue, he would be unable to walk well and there would be a slight risk of paralysis in future.

Anwar, guarded by armed warders, last week attended his mother's funeral in a wheelchair.

'Special treatment'

Last week Mahathir accused his former deputy of politicising his back injury as part of efforts to topple him.

Mahathir also said he was unhappy with the "special treatment" given to Anwar and described his spinal injury as a "backache".

Hoogland has said the operating table, X-ray equipment and image intensifier at Kuala Lumpur Hospital are inadequate for endoscopic surgery and that anaesthetists lack necessary experience for such an operation.

In his statement, he said "many political aspects" are complicating the situation and accuses hospital chiefs of waging a media campaign against him.

Hoogland said hospital chiefs have assured him they can provide all facilities and equipment even before he has itemised his requirements.

Anwar's lawyer, Sankara Nair, said he had passed on Hoogland's statement to the prisons department chief, asking him to "give weight" to it and to the application for overseas treatment.