Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has left the hospital one week after being admitted for tests, including a colonoscopy, state media reported.
Video broadcast by the Saudi Press Agency late on Sunday showed the 86-year-old monarch walking out of King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the coastal city of Jeddah, using a cane and surrounded by officials, including Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, before being driven away.
He left “after conducting medical examinations, and successfully completing the treatment plan and recovery period,” the news agency wrote on Twitter.
Photo: Reuters
The kingdom has for years sought to quell speculation over the health of the king, who has ruled the world’s top oil exporter since 2015.
A week ago, state media reported that the king’s colonoscopy results were “sound” and that doctors had “decided to keep him in the hospital for some time to rest.”
In 2017, Saudi Arabia dismissed reports and mounting speculation that the king was planning to abdicate in favor of the crown prince, the de facto ruler.
King Salman underwent surgery to remove his gall bladder in 2020.
Before this latest hospitalization, he was most recently admitted in March for what state media described as “successful medical tests” and to change the battery of his pacemaker.
Under his rule, Saudi Arabia has launched ambitious economic reforms for a post-oil era.
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