Zambia president to seek treatment in South Africa
Edgar Lungu, who assumed office in January, to travel for further tests following a health scare over the weekend.
Newly elected Zambian president Edgar Lungu will travel to South Africa for further medical tests after a suspected narrowing of the food pipe caused him to fall ill over the weekend.
“I am feeling much better but I have to go to South Africa this afternoon. I need to go for further tests and then if there will be need for other procedures such as surgery they will tell us,” Lungu said on Tuesday.
“I hope to come back alive, no one wants to die,” he said, laughing.
Lungu, 58, was discharged from the hospital on Monday where he had been receiving treatment after feeling unwell while at an International Women’s Day event in the capital on Sunday.
Lungu assumed the presidency in January after winning a narrow victory in an election to replace former leader Michael Sata, who died in October, while undergoing treatment in London.
#Zambia president rushed to hospital after collapse @AJENews http://t.co/E48qm9xkfo
— harumutasa/aljazeera (@harumutasa) March 8, 2015
Doctors had advised Lungu to undergo specialist treatment abroad to correct the narrowing of the food pipe, which was a recurring condition.
Zambia’s kwacha shed over one percent against US dollar on Tuesday as concerns over Lungu’s health weighed on market sentiment.