Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been hospitalised in the West Bank due to complications after minor surgery last week, a Palestinian official said on Sunday.
It was the third time Abbas, 82, had been hospitalised in a week. He underwent minor ear surgery on Tuesday and was hospitalised again briefly overnight on Saturday/Sunday, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.
A Palestinian official in Ramallah said Abbas went back into hospital again later on Sunday because his temperature was high “so doctors advised that he go back into hospital.â€
Two statements were issued by Wafa on Sunday. The first, half an hour after midnight, said Abbas had gone into hospital “for a checkup to review the surgery that he had in his middle ear a few days ago at al-Istishari hospital in Ramallah. At the end of the tests, the results turned out to be excellent,†the statement said, and Abbas left hospital.
A second statement carried by Wafa on Sunday afternoon reported the medical manager of al-Istishari hospital, Dr. Saed Sarahneh, said the results of the medical tests were “good†and that his medical condition was “reassuring.â€
A Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the high temperature may have resulted from a failure of an ear inflammation to heal completely.
In February, Abbas was hospitalised in the United States for medical checks during a trip to address the UN Security Council in New York.
Abbas became Palestinian president after the death in 2004 of Yasser Arafat. He pursued US-led peace talks with Israel but the negotiations broke down in 2014.
He is also chairman of the executive committee of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organisation, a position to which he was re-elected unopposed on May 4. (Reuters)