Saudi King Salman leaves hospital after tests, says royal court

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz was released from hospital on Sunday after undergoing a colonoscopy last week, according to the royal court.

Saudi television broadcast a video clip of the monarch walking slowly with a cane as he departed King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah, where he was admitted on May 7.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, was seen in the video with his entourage.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Press Agency stated on Twitter that King Salman had “finished the treatment plan and recovery time” after undergoing “medical examinations.”

For years, the kingdom has tried to dispel rumours about the 86-year-old monarch’s health. The king’s colonoscopy results were “sound,” according to official media, and physicians “decided to keep him in the hospital for some time to relax.”

Saudi Arabia refuted claims and rising speculation in 2017 that the monarch was ready to abdicate in favour of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed.

After more than two and a half years as crown prince and deputy premier, King Salman, the custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites, became monarch of the world’s top oil exporter in 2015.

In 2020, he had bladder surgery, and in March, the battery in his heart pacemaker was replaced.

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He was most recently brought to the hospital in March for “successful medical testing” and to replace the battery in his pacemaker, according to official media.

Saudi Arabia has implemented ambitious post-oil economic reforms and expanded women’s rights under his leadership, as well as pursuing a more assertive foreign policy, including intervening in Yemen’s civil war.