FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON, WHO HAS BEEN IN A COMA FOR NEARLY FIVE MONTHS, WAS TRANSFERRED SUNDAY IN AN AMBULANCE ESCORTED BY A SECURITY CONVOY FROM HADASSAH HOSPITAL IN AL-QUDS CITY TO A LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY IN TEL AVIV, HOSPITAL OFFICIALS SAID. SHARON'S TRANSFER TO SHEBA MEDICAL CENTER, A FACILITY MORE SUITED TO PROVIDING HIM WITH EXTENDED CARE, SIGNALED HIS MEDICAL TEAM DID NOT BELIEVE HE WAS LIKELY TO EMERGE ANY TIME SOON FROM THE COMA HE FELL INTO AFTER SUFFERING A DEVASTATING STROKE JAN. 4. DR. ZEEV ROTSTEIN, HEAD OF SHEBA, TOLD REPORTERS SUNDAY THAT SHARON ARRIVED LATE SUNDAY MORNING. «WE ARE EXPECTING A DIFFICULT TREATMENT BECAUSE IN HIS CONDITION, COMPLICATIONS ARE EXPECTED,» ROTSTEIN SAID. «WE WILL TREAT HIM AS BEST WE CAN. IT IS NOT A SHORT-TERM TREATMENT, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT LONG-TERM TREATMENT.» DR. YULI KRIEGER, THE DEPUTY HEAD OF LEVINSTEIN HOUSE, ANOTHER LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY, TOLD ISRAEL RADIO ON SUNDAY THAT THE 78-YEAR-OLD FORMER LEADER'S CHANCES OF WAKING UP AFTER SUCH A LENGTHY COMA WERE SMALL. «EVERY DAY THAT PASSES AFTER THIS KIND OF EVENT WITH THE PATIENT STILL UNCONSCIOUS THE CHANCES THAT HE WILL GAIN CONSCIOUSNESS GET SMALLER,» SAID KRIEGER, WHO WAS NOT DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN SHARON'S CARE.
