AMMAN, Jordan – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is in stable condition as he recuperates from exhaustion and pulmonary inflammation at an Amman hospital, the Iraqi ambassador to Jordan said Monday.
"There's nothing dangerous about his case," Ambassador Saad al-Hayyani told The Associated Press after he visited Talabani at the King Hussein Medical City.
Talabani, 73, fell ill Sunday and was unconscious when he was rushed to hospital in Sulaimaniyah, his hometown in northeastern Iraq. But he recovered sufficiently to be flown to neighboring Jordan later in the day for extensive examination.
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"He underwent medical tests and was found to have suffered exhaustion and a mild inflammation of the lungs," the ambassador said. "He lost fluids, but his heart is very well and there's no need for him to be flown anywhere, whether the United States or elsewhere, for further treatment."
In Baghdad, an official in Talabani's office said the president might be released from hospital later Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
Chief Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh told reporters that King Abdullah II had instructed doctors at the hospital to provide Talabani with all possible care.
"He is a guest and a dear friend of Jordan, and we will do everything for him," Judeh said.
Talabani's son, Qubad Talabani, has said his father is suffering from fatigue and exhaustion.
"He did not have a heart attack" or a stroke, Qubad told a cable news outlet on Sunday. He said his father had "made his own way off the plane" when he landed in Jordan.
"He's absolutely up and about, being able to communicate," Qubad added.
Talabani was in Sulaimaniyah, his hometown, when he collapsed on Sunday. The previous day he appeared there in public and met U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq.
A member of Talabani's party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, has said the president has a long history of fainting when he is exhausted — a condition dating back to his years as a Kurdish guerrilla leader fighting Saddam Hussein's regime.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
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