King Salman admitted to hospital

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s 84-year-old ruler King Salman was admitted to hospital in Riyadh on Monday for gall bladder inflammation, the royal court said, prompting the postponement of the Iraqi prime minister’s high-profile visit. It is rare for Saudi Arabia to report on the health of the ageing monarch, who has ruled the top oil exporter and the Arab world’s biggest economy since 2015.

King Salman is the second reigning monarch in theGulf to be hospitalised after Kuwait´s 91-year-old emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah was admitted to hospital last week, at a time when the region is gripped by the twin crises of the coronavirus pandemic and a plunge in crude prices.

A Saudi royal court statement said King Salman was "admitted today to King Faisal specialist hospital in Riyadh for some medical tests due to cholecystitis," inflammation of the gall bladder. The statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency around 4:30 am (0130 GMT) did not disclose any further details.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan conveyed his best wishes for Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdul Aziz who was hospitalized on Monday. "The government and people of Pakistan, and I myself, join our Saudi brethren in prayers for His Majesty's swift recovery, good health and long life.

Ameen," the prime minister wrote in a tweet. The prime minister expressed concern over the hospitalisation of the Saudi King and prayed for his early recovery.