Saudi king leaves hospital after completing ‘treatment plan’

ISTANBUL (AA/AFP) – Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz left the hospital one week after completing his treatment plan, a Saudi Royal Court statement said on Sunday.

The king, 86, was “discharged today … from King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah after having successfully conducted medical tests and completed the prescribed treatment plan as well as the recovery period,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the statement as saying.

He was admitted to the hospital on May 8.

The king underwent various tests, including a colonoscopy, state media reported.

A video broadcast by the Saudi Press Agency showed the monarch walking out of King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the coastal city of Jeddah, using a cane and surrounded by officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before being driven away.

The kingdom has for years sought to quell speculation over the health of the monarch, 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 favour of Crown Prince Mohammed, the de facto ruler.

King Salman underwent surgery to remove his gall bladder in 2020.

Before this latest hospitalisation, 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 and given more rights to women, while adopting a more assertive foreign policy, including entering a war in neighbouring Yemen.