Malaysia yesterday ruled out allowing jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim to seek treatment abroad for a back injury which his wife said could leave him paralyzed. Anwar was rushed to hospital from prison late due to complications from a damaged spinal disc, which he says was caused by a police beating after his arrest in 1998, his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said. Doctors at the government-run Kuala Lumpur Hospital had advised Anwar to undergo surgery "as soon as possible to decompress pressure on the nerves affected as they are showing warning signs and there is a risk of paralysis," Wan Azizah said. Anwar and his supporters have been pressing the authorities for years to allow him to travel overseas for treatment, but the government says the operation can be done locally. Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said there was no change in the government position and it would not consider allowing Anwar to go abroad. Chua said that in 2000 a panel of medical specialists recommended that Anwar undergo surgery to treat his prolapsed disc and Anwar chose an operation offered by a specialist in Germany. Anwar refused all other forms of treatment offered to him and was discharged in May 2001 with a warning by the doctors that if he did not undergo an operation it would lead to further complications, Chua said. Wan Azizah said Anwar was now "experiencing problems with his bladder system. The nerves in his lower back are now affecting his kidneys." Anwar, who uses a neck-brace and wheelchair during endless court appeals, said he suffered his back injury when he was beaten by police after his arrest in September 1998 following his sacking by the then-premier Mahathir Mohamad. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Former Malaysian deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is pushed on a wheelchair after a treatment at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur on July 13, 2004. (REUTERS)