Lange loses lower right leg

David Lange

David Lange's right leg has been amputated below the knee as he battles a rare and incurable plasma disorder.

Family spokeswoman, Lauren Young said the former Labour Prime Minister's condition was listed today as fair.

She said his wife Margaret Pope wanted people to know the amputation was a complication of diabetes and not amyloidosis.

"The kidney disorder is part of diabetes. The plasma disorder is another story so he has got multiple issues going."

Mr Lange has also had heart and retina operations.

Lauren Young would not say what the long-term prognosis was for Mr Lange.

"But he is not going to get better," she said.

Mr Lange - 63 tomorrow - was prime minister from 1984 until 1989, when the Labour government conducted a radical overhaul of the country's economy.

He has been in hospital for two weeks and is undergoing nightly peritoneal dialysis to treat diabetes complications. Mr Lange was diagnosed in 2002 with amyloidosis -- which can affect the heart and kidneys -- and has been treated with chemotherapy and blood transfusions.

However, his wife said he was still keeping up with politics and found a photo stunt by National Party leader Don Brash in a speedway car at Western Springs "the most amusing thing he'd seen all week".

Mr Lange said last year his prognosis was "rather dismal" but joked he was legally bound to survive until late this year, when his memoirs were likely to be published.

"I've got a contractual commitment to promote the book, so I've got to stay alive," he said.

Mr Lange said he was in the good hands of his South African GP, Philippine coronary care unit nurses and mostly Indian dialysis staff at Middlemore.

"I'm very much obliged to the health services and to immigration -- you can't get me to moan about immigration."

Mr Lange was made an honorary member of the Indian community last month -- the first time the New Zealand Indian community has conferred the honour on anyone of non-Indian descent.

A wheelchair-bound Mr Lange told an honour ceremony his affection for Indian culture came from his boyhood in South Auckland's Otahuhu.

His mother did not allow him to go to the movies because of the immorality he might see, so he went to Indian movies playing at the Gandhi Hall in Papakura.

Mr Lange was prime minister from 1984 until 1989, when the Labour government conducted a radical overhaul of the country's economy.

His government also passed New Zealand's anti-nuclear legislation.

- NZPA