International News

SINGAPORE, (APP/AFP): Singapore Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong started a week’s medical leave Monday to rest after a fainting spell during a televised speech caused a health scare.
Lee, 64, underwent a series of medical checks late Sunday and early Monday and “doctors have confirmed there were no cardiac abnormalities and no stroke,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.
However, his doctors advised that Lee should go on medical leave and resume his duties next Monday, the PMO said. Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean will be in charge in his absence.
“I’m glad to report that the doctors think I am ok, but they have advised me to rest, so I will be on (medical leave) for this week,” Lee said in a Facebook post.
Lee, a cancer survivor and son of the city-state’s late founding father Lee Kuan Yew, suddenly stopped speaking more than two hours into a speech on Sunday and slouched over the lectern during a live broadcast.
He had to be helped off the stage but a smiling Lee returned to finish his speech, part of Singapore’s independence celebrations, telling the audience that he had fainted.
His office said Monday he had been taken ill because of “a temporary drop in blood pressure, due to prolonged standing, exhaustion, and dehydration”.