Mystery surrounds health of King Abdullah
There are conflicting reports coming out of Saudi Arabia concerning the health of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. One report says the king has slipped into a coma and is clinically dead nearly a week after a 14-hour-long back surgery in a hospital in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Another has him on state TV in apparent good health, igniting speculation that recordings were prepared to assuage public anxiety prior to surgery.
A Saudi journalist at the London-based Asharq Alawsat said the Saudi king, who was taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a Riyadh hospital following his surgery, has gone into a coma and has been living with the help of a ventilator over the past two days. The journalist claims medics at the hospital said the king’s basic organs, particularly his heart, lungs and kidneys, do not function and doctors have been forced to use electric shocks to stimulate his cardiac muscles several times.
Speaking from Jeddah, Saudi Crown Prince Salman has said that King Abdullah was “well and in good health”, a message likely to reassure many states keen on the stability of the world’s biggest oil exporter.
No photographs have been released of the monarch, believed to be in his late 80s, since the operation on November 17 at the National Guard’s King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh.
“King Abdullah and I convey to you good news that he is well and in good health,” Prince Salman, who is also the defence minister, told counterparts from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council at a meeting in Riyadh, in comments aired on Saudi state television.
On Monday (November 26), Prince Salman “reassured” Saudis about the king’s health at a cabinet meeting, the state news agency SPA reported, but he gave no details on his condition or when he will be released from hospital.
The Saudi stock market index reversed a downward trend after the announcement on Monday, ending the day in positive territory. But on Tuesday, the index fell to a 10-month low to close 1.3 lower.
King Abdullah underwent a similar operation in October last year and had back surgery twice in the US in 2010 for a herniated disc, after which he spent three months outside Saudi Arabia recuperating. Two days after his back operation last year, Abdullah appeared on state television and was released from hospital within five days.
King Abdullah – who took power in 2005 – named his brother Prince Salman, 13 years his junior, heir apparent in June after the death of Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz.
Salman, who deputises for the king, was shown on television last week meeting visiting US officials. He had chaired two cabinet two weekly cabinet meetings since the surgery.
