NEW DELHI : Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, is to stay in hospital for several more days to undergo checks following keyhole surgery last week to remove gallstones, a doctor said Wednesday.

"The Dalai Lama will be released not before Saturday as he prefers to stay here rather than check into a hotel and then report to us for periodic checks," a doctor from the Sir Ganga Ram hospital told AFP.

The 73-year-old underwent surgery on Friday after he was admitted to the New Delhi hospital with abdominal pain.

"He is having a good time and is quite cheerful," said the doctor, who declined to be identified.

The Dalai Lama's spokesman Tenzin Taklha, speaking by telephone from Dharamshala, confirmed to AFP that the 1989 Nobel Prize winner will stay the rest of the week in the privately-run facility.

The Dalai Lama set up base in Dharamshala after fleeing from his Tibetan homeland in China in 1959 following a failed anti-Chinese uprising.

After his release from hospital, he will remain in the Indian capital for a week for post-surgery examination, doctors said.

A similar episode in August forced the Nobel Laureate to cancel his engagements and rush to a hospital in Mumbai.

In the weeks preceding his illness, the Dalai Lama had pursued a hectic international itinerary as he campaigned for improved human rights in Tibet while China hosted the Olympic Games in August.

Beijing has accused him of masterminding riots against Chinese rule in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and neighbouring areas with Tibetan populations in March in order to destabilise the country -- a claim he denies.

- AFP /ls