Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam, who collapsed while addressing a meeting in northern Lebanon Sunday, was discharged from a hospital in Tripoli Monday, reported AFP.
He was seen leaving Nini Hospital, accompanied by his wife, for the home of former Lebanese prime minister Omar Karame.
Khaddam, 69, fainted while giving a speech to tens of thousands of people in a Tripoli stadium to mark the anniversary of then Lebanese prime minister Rashid Karame's assassination in 1987.
Confusion ensued in the 80,000-plus crowd as Khaddam was lifted by the arms and legs to a Red Cross ambulance and driven the short distance to the hospital.
Lebanon’s Tourism Minister Karam Karam, also a doctor and a former health minister, blamed Khaddam’s collapse on a combination of “indigestion” and the hot weather, said the Daily Star newspaper.
He added that Khaddam’s heart was in good shape, and that the Syrian vice president had regained consciousness and was able to carry on a “normal” conversation.
Both the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri were among those who headed to Khaddam’s bedside.
Hariri drove up to Tripoli from Beirut accompanied by Samir Alam, the chairman of the cardiology department at the American University Hospital, the paper said.
Hariri said the Syrian official was recovering well and simply required rest.
“Thank God, his health is excellent,” the prime minister, a personal friend of Khaddam’s, told reporters.
President Emile Lahoud called Khaddam to wish him well.
About 200 people gathered outside the hospital afterward. The building, however, was sealed off by Internal Security Forces personnel – Albawaba.com
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