According to state media, the 86-year-old monarch was transferred to a hospital in the Red Sea city of Jeddah for unspecified testing.
Saudi Arabia’s aged king has been brought to a hospital in Jeddah, on the Red Sea, for medical examinations, weeks after the battery in his pacemaker was replaced.
The official Saudi Press Agency did not disclose any additional information on King Salman’s condition or the nature of the examinations in a report published on Sunday. The king, who is 86 years old, was admitted to King Faisal Specialist Hospital, according to the statement.
“May God protect the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and grant him health and happiness,” said a royal palace statement.
King Salman was hospitalized in the capital Riyadh earlier this year to have the battery of his heart pacemaker replaced, according to state media. After a stay in the hospital in 2020, he had surgery to remove his gallbladder, reigniting suspicions about his health.
Saudi Arabia has done its best to allay worries about the health of its king, who has presided over the Arab world’s largest economy since 2015.
King Salman named his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 36, as his successor after ascending to the throne. He has, however, already given Prince Mohammed authority over the kingdom’s daily operations.
Prince Mohammed, widely known as MBS, has upended Saudi Arabia with dizzying social reforms, sidelining royal rivals, and cracking down on perceived opponents since assuming power.
Under his leadership, the Gulf behemoth has implemented ambitious post-oil economic reforms and expanded women’s rights, all while pursuing a more muscular foreign policy, which includes intervening in Yemen.
Source: Aljazeera
