PARIS (AP) – A hospitalised President Jacques Chirac spoke yesterday by telephone with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a presidential spokesman said, the latest sign that the French leader is determined to stay on the job as his health improves.

Chirac, 72, had been scheduled to meet with Schroeder in Germany yesterday, but was forced to cancel after suffering what doctors called a “small vascular incident” last week that hindered his vision. He was admitted to Val de Grace military hospital Friday, but medical updates have indicated his health is improving.

Dr Anne Robert, the head doctor of the army’s health service, said there were no plans to issue a statement yesterday on Chirac’s health because “everything is going as expected.” In a health update Monday, Robert said Chirac was making a “very favourable” recovery.

The government has been facing criticism for allegedly guarding details of Chirac’s condition like a state secret. Doctors and politicians alike were scrutinising the few words issued in the medical updates, and one top doctor claimed Chirac and his aides had written them.

“These statements, presented as medical, are in fact texts devised by the patient, those close to him, his aides,”

Jacques Roland, president of the Council of the Order of Doctors, said in an interview to be published today in the daily La Croix. The updates are then read by doctors, thus making them seem “authentic,” he said.

“We are no longer talking about medical communication, but the filtering of information of political origin,” Roland was quoted as saying. The source of his information was not clear. A copy of his comments made available last night.

Even while recovering at the hospital, the French leader pressed on with official business during an extensive telephone conversation with Schroeder.

The two men discussed issues such as an informal meeting of European Union leaders next month in Britain, next week’s summit at the United Nations and would-be EU member Turkey’s refusal to recognise Cyprus, presidential spokesman Jerome Bonnafont said.

Chirac also said he regretted not being able to attend yesterday’s meeting in Rheinsberg, north of Berlin, with just 12 days to go before German legislative elections, Bonnafont said.

The president said he hoped to attend next week’s gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, Bonnafont said. There has been considerable speculation as to whether the ailing Chirac would make the trip.

Chirac’s health updates have come once a day since the Saturday announcement that he was hospitalised.

Monday’s update said the president had suffered a small-sized haematoma, or a collection of blood under the surface of the skin, indicating an “isolated and limited vision problem.”

“The clinical signs are in the process of receding, indicating a very favourable evolution,” Robert said Monday. Chirac was resting under “simple” medical vigilance and was expected to leave in a few days, after a total of about a week in the hospital, she said.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was not informed until Saturday morning – causing outrage in the press, which wondered who was in charge of the country. Several newspapers devoted editorials or articles to what they called a trickle of vaguely worded updates.

“In France, we practise a cult of secrecy which would have made the Kremlin proud in the former Soviet Union,” Le Monde newspaper wrote in an editorial.

Left-leaning daily Liberation ran a story headlined “State health secrets,” which said the updates were too few and far between – and confusing.

While in the hospital, Chirac has cancelled all plans for the week. Villepin was to sit in for him as leader of the government’s weekly Cabinet meeting today – the first time Chirac has missed the weekly gathering since taking office in 1995.