Wednesday October 31, 3:47 PM
American Hospital in Dubai refuses comment on bin Laden treatment report
The American Hospital in Dubai would make no immediate comment on reports Osama bin Laden underwent treatment there in July for a kidney complaint.
"The board are in a meeting at the moment and the subject is under discussion," Nihal Abu Shoosha of the hospital's international patient relations department told AFP.
The meeting was being chaired by Chief Executive Officer Bernard Koval.
Emirati officials made no immediate comment on the reports.
In Paris, Le Figaro newspaper and Radio France International said that the chief suspect for the September 11 terror attacks in the United States also met a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official in his hospital bedroom.
Quoting "a witness, a professional partner of the administrative management of the hospital," they said bin Laden arrived in the Gulf emirate on July 4 by air from Quetta, Pakistan.
He was immediately taken to the hospital for kidney treatment. He left the establishment on July 14, Le Figaro said.
During his stay, the daily said, the local CIA representative was seen going into bin Laden's room and "a few days later, the CIA man boasted to some friends of having visited the Saudi-born millionaire."
Quoting "an authoritative source," Le Figaro and the radio station said the CIA representative had been recalled to Washington on July 15.
Le Figaro said bin Laden was accompanied in Dubai by his personal physician and close collaborator, who could be the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahari, as well as bodyguards and an Algerian nurse.
He was admitted to the urology department of Doctor Terry Callaway, who specializes in kidney stones and male infertility.
Callaway was not taking calls on Wednesday.
"He's not available and he's not taking any calls before this afternoon," an employee in his department told AFP.
Callaway was trained in Canada, according to the hospital website.
"He has extensive experience of Middle Eastern urological problems, having spent eight years at the King Fahad National Guard Hospital in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
"His special Interest is in the management of Renal Calculus Disease and Management of Urological Problems in Children."
Bin Laden has been sought by the United States for terrorism since the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. But his CIA links go back before that to the fight against Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
The American Hospital in Dubai is a one hundred bed, acute care, general medical-surgical hospital, according to the website.
"Our mission is to provide high quality, cost effective, American standard healthcare which will meet the needs and expectations of Dubai and the surrounding Gulf states through comprehensive primary, secondary, and selected tertiary care services on an inpatient, outpatient, and referral basis," says the site www.ahdubai.com