FORMER EMBASSY STAFF IN COMA AT PRIVATE HOSPITAL IN PARIS

By JAMALUDDIN MUHAMMAD

BANGKOK, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- A former staff of the Malaysian Embassy in Paris
who had served the embassy for 40 years is lying in coma at a private hospital
in Paris.

Yvonne Stuart Lambert, 65, underwent a brain surgery at the Fondation
Rothschild Hospital in Paris on Jan 3, and has since remained in coma.

Her adopted sister Pauline Phillips, 76, said Lambert was diagnosed with
brain cancer in October last year, about a month after the latter retired after
have served the embassy from September 1970 to 2010.

Lambert, a former Malaysian citizen and currently a French national, was a
locally recruited staff and her last post was Office Assistant at the embassy,
Phillips who lives in this city told BERNAMA, here.

"In fact, Lambert first collapsed at the embassy in August and the
ambassador Abdul Aziz Zainal helped her to the hospital," said Phillips.


"I never thought she would have cancer because she was a very active
sportswoman even at her age," Phillips added.

Then, Lambert collapsed again at a market in the outskirts of Paris and
was diagnosed with the problem after undergoing a brain scan.

Phillips appealed to the Malaysian authorities to expedite the process of
her adopted sister's gratuity to enlighten the latter's financial needs,
especially in the current situation.

Her gratuity amounts to Euros 59,375.82 (about RM235,000), she claimed.

"My sister checked with the embassy before undergoing the operation but was
told that her gratuity was still being processed," said Phillips.

Phillips said Lambert, a divorcee, has a 21-year-old son, Ambrose, who got
his wings in November last year and was still residing in Paris.

--BERNAMA