If the Philippines can allow jailed ex-president Joseph Estrada to seek medical attention in the United States, Malaysia too should let former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim go overseas for surgery.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said today that the recent court decision in the Philippines is "a further reason" why Anwar should be allowed to go to Munich for the endoscopic surgery available only in Germany for his worsening spinal injuries.

On Dec 23, the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court approved Estrada's petition to travel to the US for knee surgery after recognising doctors' findings that the danger of the disgrace president being paralysed by arthritis was "imminent".

Estrada, who is in jail on charges of economic plunder, was recently diagnosed with arthritis of the knees and a slipped disc in his spine. Doctors warned that the former president could be crippled if he did not undergo surgery.

Lim said the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should heed the calls for Anwar to be allowed to seek medical treatment from spinal specialist Dr Thomas Hoogland.

"Abdullah must take full cognisance of the revelations by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)) and computed tomography (CT) scans that Anwar sustained two new back injuries: friction of a facet joint and a prolapse of another disc," he said in statement released in Penang.

The opposition leader also reminded Abdullah that the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) had recommended more than two years ago that Anwar should be allowed to exercise his right to choose his preferred medical treatment for his chronic backache.

Complaints of pain ignored

Anwar, who is serving a nine-year jail sentence for sodomy, has repeatedly claimed that his government-appointed physician had ignored his complaints of excruciating pain.

However last Monday, the government authorities relented and sent him for further examination in Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

The MRI and CT scans revealed that he sustained new back injuries. He was ordered to undergo regular physiotherapy until his condition improves.

Anwar suffered from a slipped disc following a horse riding accident several years ago. In 1998, he was sacked and subsequently jailed on charges of corruption and sodomy, which he has denied.

He claimed that the injury worsened when he was assaulted by then inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor, who has since served time for the offence.

Although the government offered Anwar to undergo surgery locally, he has insisted on an endoscopic surgery available only in Germany.