CAIRO: Amid fervent speculation about Egypt's next President, Egyptian and international press reports announced that current President Hosni Mubarak had undergone an operation to remove his gallbladder in Heidelberg, Germany. "The president's health is an important issue that concerns every Egyptian citizen and has to be addressed and reported with transparency in the media, information minister, Anas El-Fiqi, said. The statement was unexpected, given that till this day, discussing President Mubarak's health was a taboo. "What was most extraordinary about the news of the President's treatment was that it was made public at all, Michael Slackman, bureau chief of the New York Times in Cairo commented. Worldwide, the health of the head of state is a sensitive subject as it challenges the myth of his untouchability. But apparently, Egyptian officials have changed their strategy: "Why should we keep it secret and give people the chance to spread rumours? Mohamed Abdallah, a leading member of the ruling National Democratic Party, said. Ibrahim Eissa, who was dragged in court for over a year for an editorial he wrote questioning the President's health, considered this move towards more transparency a victory for the press in its struggle against the state's restrictions on such coverage. In a recent editorial, he wrote, "The state learnt from its previous mistakes that hiding news about the president's health and treating it as a military secret, would only cause the media to speculate and people to panic. The issue of President Mubarak's health is intrinsically tied to the question of his succession and the power vacuum that may result in Egypt in the case of his sudden demise. Dealing with this problematic, Issandr El Amrani wrote in Foreign Policy magazine: "The time bomb will be looming over Egypt for the foreseeable future, especially in light of Mubarak announcement in 2004 at the Egyptian parliament that he will continue to serve as president of Egypt "until the last breath in my lungs and the last beat of my heart. "The Egyptian people have passed the stage of panicking over the president's health, they are more concerned about the post-Mubarak era, says Wael Abdel Fattah, an Egyptian columnist in the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar. The impact of such an unusual disclosure through this unanticipated switch towards transparency has, however, triggered questions among Egyptians about President Mubarak's real state of health. Hisham Kassem, publisher and human rights advocate, asks: "Are they giving the real reason? It could be the gallbladder or it could be something more serious. That seems to be the question.
