KUALA LUMPUR: Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who was admitted to a hospital on Thursday, will remain there for a few more days to undergo “several investigations”, hospital officials said on Friday.
Mahathir, 96, “is currently undergoing several investigations which shall be completed in the next few days”, the National Heart Institute said in a statement. The statement did not say what prompted him to seek hospital care, or the condition he is in.
Mahathir, a medical doctor by training, has had many health scares in the past. He had his first heart bypass in 1989, and in 2007 underwent another heart procedure.
Mahathir first assumed the premiership of Malaysia in 1981, and he retired 22 years later in 2003. In 2018, he joined forces with the opposition and stunningly dethroned the long-ruling National Front coalition after a bruising election campaign in which corruption was the major issue.
He made history by becoming prime minister for a second time at the age of 92, though his tenure was short-lived as his government collapsed in less than two years due to political defections.
