Chinese doctors scramble to 'rescue' ailing Nobel laureate

Beijing : A Chinese hospital said Tuesday it was scrambling to save terminally-ill Nobel laureateLiu Xiaobo, while human rights groups decried his treatment by the authorities and the leak of a video showing him in his sickbed.

The health of the prominent 61-year-old democracy advocate has deteriorated since authorities revealed last month that he had been transferred from prison to a hospital due to late-stage liver cancer.

But Chinese officials have ignored calls by international human rights groups, Western governments and local activists to grant Liu's wish to be treated abroad, raising fears he will die without having tasted freedom.

A day after reporting that Liu was in a critical condition, the First Hospital of ChinaMedical University in the northeastern city of Shenyang said on Tuesday that the patient was "still in active rescue".

Liu has an abdominal infection, organ dysfunction and he went into septic shock, the hospital said in a statement on its website. He is undergoing kidney dialysis, and is getting anti-infection and organ function support therapy.

The back-to-back pessimistic reports from the hospital came after foreign doctors who visited Liu over the weekend concluded that it was safe to transport him to another country, contradicting their Chinese counterparts.