CRO HEALTH MINISTER DENIES SPECULATIONS OF BELGRADE WEEKLY

( Editorial: --> 3948 ) ZAGREB, 12 Jan (Hina) - Asked by Hina to comment on an article in Monday's issue of the Belgrade weekly 'Argument' containing speculations concerning the health condition of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, the head of the doctors' board which treated President Tudjman, Andrija Hebrang, said that statements from the article were "completely false". The 'Argument' article, which brims with numerous other factual inaccuracies, also includes a text by a former member of the Yugoslav Intelligence Service (SDB), Bozidar Spasic, who claims that in 1998 Croatia would "face unprecedented difficulties" and that some foresee as a possibility even "civil war". Claiming that these are the estimations of western intelligence services including American, 'Argument' also mentions an alleged report by doctors of the US military hospital 'Walter Reed' for whom the newspaper says that they "personally operated Franjo Tudjman". The article also says the doctors claim that the Croatian President is receiving cytostatic therapy "every seven days in the hospital in Dubrava". "The President has never undergone surgery anywhere, including Zagreb or 'Walter Reed' hospital," Dr Hebrang, the Croatian Health Minister, said. "There is no American on the doctors' board which controlled his treatment, so that side could not have given meritorious judgements even if it wanted to. Foreign participation in the doctors' board in every important area is usually reduced to expert checking of the therapy chosen by Croatian doctors." "That therapy has had results beyond every expectation so it was successfully completed as we said in the last report of 28 June last year. Since then there have been no new elements - I can only state that during that period there was no need for the President to receive any medications whatsoever," Hebrang said. The report of the doctors' board of 28 June said the board had established that there were no traces of the earlier disease, that the treatment had been successfully completed and that the President could perform all his activities without any limitations. (hina) mm rm 122214 MET jan 98