Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua is receiving treatment for an acute condition of inflammation of the wall of the heart at a Saudi hospital, his doctor said on Thursday. The doctor said Yar'Adua started complaining of severe chest pains last Friday and preliminary tests suggested acute pericarditis.
It was then decided he should take further tests in Saudi Arabia.
| So Saudi sheiks get their heart care at the Cleveland Clinic and Nigerian presidents get their heart care in ... Jeddah. Oh. Okay ... |
On Wednesday, rumours spread in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia that Yar'Adua had slipped into a coma or had died while in Jeddah to visit the hospital.
It is his third trip to the Red Sea port in as many months, all believed to have involved hospital visits.
The condition of Yar'Adua, 58, had until now been cloaked in an official veil of secrecy. He is widely believed to have a history of kidney-related disease for which he has previously received hospital treatment in both Germany and Saudi Arabia.