Kathmandu: Nepal’s President Ramchandra Poudel was admitted to a hospital here on Tuesday for the second time within a month after he complained of shortness of breath, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress said.
Poudel, 78, was taken to the Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu. According to Baikuntha Thapaliya, the hospital’s administration chief, President Paudel is undergoing treatment.
“We rushed him to the hospital after his oxygen level dipped. He has been taking antibiotics for 15 days but his situation has not improved,” one adviser to the president was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post newspaper.
Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ visited the hospital to inquire about Poudel’s health condition.
This is the second time President Poudel has been hospitalised within a month. Last week, the president complained of pain in his stomach.
A Cabinet meeting on Tuesday decided to deploy a team of government officials to facilitate his treatment.
The team will assess the nature of the president’s illness and report to the government, a minister said. Further decisions on the president’s treatment will be taken after the team submits its report.
Poudel of the Nepali Congress was elected as the new president of Nepal last month, in a relief to the fragile coalition government headed by Prime Minister ‘Prachanda’.
Poudel, a common candidate of the eight-party alliance that included the Nepali Congress and Prime Minister ‘Prachanda’-led CPN (Maoist Center), received the vote of 214 lawmakers of Parliament and 352 provincial assembly members.
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