‘Liu received best treatment’

SHENYANG: The hospital where Liu Xiaobo received medical treatment did its best to save his life, according to the principal doctor Liu Yunpeng.

Liu Xiaobo, 61, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for “inciting subversion of state power” after he helped write a petition known as “Charter 08” calling for sweeping political reforms and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. He died of multiple organ failure due to liver cancer on Thursday.

“Since the day Liu Xiaobo was admitted, the hospital has made every effort in his treatment,” said Dr Liu, of the First Hospital of China Medical University, at a press conference.

Experts from China as well as Germany and the UShad been invited for joint consultations, said Liu, director of the medical oncology department of the hospital based in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province in northeast China.

During the treatment, doctors with the hospital held 25 consultations, had five joint diagnoses with Chinese experts from outside and briefed Liu Xiaobo’s family on his illness for 23 times, Dr Liu said.

Professor Markus Buachler of the German University of Heidelberg and Professor Joseph Herman of the US MD Anderson Cancer Centre, had been invited to the hospital for joint consultations.

In reply to questions about why the patient had not been transferred overseas for treat- ment, Doctor Liu said he had been in a critical condition which had not allowed him to be moved.

He also said Liu Xiaobo’s type of liver cancer was difficult to diagnose at the early stage and it had developed quickly at the late stage.

“The situation was very dangerous; he might be in need of receiving surgery at any time,” the doctor said.

“US and German experts spoke highly of the hospital’s work, believing the patient had received quality treatment. They held that hospitals in their own countries could not have done a better job.”

During his last hours, Liu was accompanied by his wife and several relatives. – Xinhua