King Salman of Saudi Arabia was admitted to a hospital in the capital, Riyadh, to undergo medical examinations due to inflammation of the gallbladder, the royal court of the kingdom said in a statement issued by the official Saudi press agency on Monday. .
The statement says the 84-year-old monarch is being evaluated at King Faisal Specialist Hospital. The brief statement did not provide further details.
The hospital frequently treats members of the royal family, including recently those who have contracted the coronavirus. The facility specializes in transplant surgeries, research programs, and training.
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Saudi King Salman chairs the 40th Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on December 10, 2019. (AP Photo / Amr Nabil, File)
King Salman has been in power since January 2015. He is considered the last Saudi monarch of his generation of brothers who have held power since the death of his father and founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz.
Observers keep a close eye on his health due to the absolute powers he has presiding over one of the world’s leading oil producers and one of its largest economies.
King Salman has empowered his 34-year-old son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as his successor. The crown prince’s bold and assertive leadership style, as well as his consolidation of power and the marginalization of potential rivals, have been controversial.
With the support of his father, Prince Mohammed has transformed the kingdom in recent years, opening it to tourists and eroding decades of ultra-conservative restrictions on women’s entertainment and rights as he tries to diversify the Saudi economy so that it does not depend on oil exports. The prince also detained dozens of activists and critics, oversaw a devastating war in Yemen, and brought together leading members of the royal family in their quest for power.
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The Saudi king has not been seen in public in recent months due to patterns of social distancing and concerns about the spread of the coronavirus within the kingdom, which has one of the largest outbreaks in the Middle East. However, he has been shown in state media images attending virtual meetings with his cabinet and has held calls with world leaders, including last Saturday with the ruling emir of Kuwait.
New Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi postponed a planned visit to Saudi Arabia on Monday after receiving news of the king’s condition, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said. A delegation of Iraqi officials had already arrived in Saudi Arabia in preparation for the visit. This would have been al-Kadhimi’s first visit to the kingdom as prime minister.
King Salman, who oversees Islam’s holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, was Crown Prince of King Abdullah and served as Defense Minister. For more than 50 years before that, he was governor of Riyadh, overseeing his evolution from an arid city to a crowded capital.
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On Sunday, the 91-year-old ruler of Kuwait underwent a “successful” surgery that required the crown prince of the oil-rich nation to have the temporary power to serve in his stead, his state news agency reported. Kuwait has yet to work out what required Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah to seek unannounced medical treatment starting Saturday.
