Castro doctor stands by recovery outlook

MADRID, Jan 16 (Reuters) A Spanish doctor today stood by his opinion that Fidel Castro is recovering from stomach surgery despite a newspaper report stating the Cuban leader is in a serious condition after a number of failed operations.

Surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who examined Castro in December, has not changed his prognosis that the 80-year-old is slowly recovering after treatment, his secretary told Reuters.

''Nothing has changed since he spoke in December, nothing at all,'' the secretary said when asked if the surgeon had changed his standpoint.

The comments followed a report in Spain's El Pais newspaper on Tuesday that Castro was in serious condition after operations to his large intestine for diverticulitis, or an inflamed bulge in the intestine, complicated by infection.

Castro's prognosis is ''very serious'' and he is being fed intravenously, the paper said, citing two medical sources at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital, where Garcia Sabrido is head of surgery.

Garcia Sabrido's office said he had made no new statements on Castro's condition, and did not plan any further comment.

Castro, who has not been seen in public since July and whose illness is being treated as a state secret, suffered a serious infection that worsened to peritonitis, El Pais said.

Garcia Sabrido told reporters in December that Castro did not have cancer and could return to govern Cuba if he made a full recovery from surgery.

Diverticulitis is a condition in which pouch-like bulges in the wall of the intestine become inflamed or infected.

Yesterday, a Latin American diplomat close to Havana told Reuters Castro was having problems with the healing of his stitches after stomach surgery.

US officials have said they suspect Castro could be terminally ill with cancer.

Reuters SP RN1850