Thai king ‘improving’ after gall bladder op
Print Edition
THAILAND’S 86-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej has had his gall bladder removed, the palace said yesterday, two days after he was rushed to hospital.
Bhumibol, who is the world’s longest-serving monarch but has suffered from numerous ailments in recent years, is treated as a near-deity in Thailand and his health is a subject of great public concern.
The nation is beset by anxiety over the future once Bhumibol’s more-than six decade reign comes to an end.
The king was driven from his coastal palace to Bangkok’s Siriraj hospital with a fever on Friday evening.
Tests over the weekend found he had a swollen gall bladder, prompting the operation to remove the organ late Sunday, the Royal Household Bureau said in a statement.
Doctors were “satisfied” with the surgery and the king’s condition was “improving” early yesterday, the statement added.
“His majesty’s heartbeat has slowed down ... his blood pressure is in the normal range and his temperature is lower,” it said.
Surgery to remove the gall bladder is common and patients tend to recovery quickly from the operation.
Bhumibol, who is officially King Rama IX, left the Siriraj last month after a stay of almost six weeks for a checkup.
He lived in the same hospital for nearly four years after being admitted with respiratory problems in 2009 — but there was no explanation from the palace over his prolonged stay.
As a constitutional monarch the king has no official political role, but Thais see him as a unifying figure and a moral force during a reign that has seen political turmoil.
In August he formally endorsed the kingdom’s new prime minister, Prayut Chan-O-Cha — who seized power from the elected administration on May 22 as head of the army, shortly after Yingluck Shinawatra was removed from office by a controversial court ruling.
Prayut led his military-stacked cabinet to the hospital yesterday morning to sign a book of good wishes for the monarch.
“We have heard good news from the medical team that his majesty has strengthened,” Prayut told reporters later.
Yingluck also visited the hospital, prostrating herself in front of a large portrait of the monarch, as scores of well-wishers waited their turn, many holding their own portraits of the king.
Thailand’s king is protected by one of the world’s toughest royal defamation laws — anyone convicted of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.
Bhumibol was born on December 5, 1927 in the United States and came to the throne aged 18 in 1946.
After finishing his studies in Switzerland he was officially crowned in 1950.
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