THE FORMER US president Bill Clinton was rushed to hospital in New York yesterday afternoon after suffering chest pain.
Mr Clinton (63) was taken to the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. Initial reports indicated that his ailment was not life-threatening.
Mr Clinton had a quadruple bypass surgery at the same hospital in September 2004 and underwent surgery a second time the following year to remove scar tissue in his heart. In the 2004 surgery, four major blood vessels that supply oxygen to Mr Clinton’s heart were blocked, some by as much as 90 per cent.
Douglas Band, a counsellor to Mr Clinton, confirmed that the former president had been admitted to Columbia hospital “after feeling discomfort in his chest”. Mr Band said he “underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries” and is “in good spirits and will focus on the Haiti relief and longterm recovery efforts”. Stents open up the arteries to allow more blood reach the heart.
Mr Clinton is widely praised for having an active and fruitful ex-presidency. As the UN secretary general’s special envoy to Haiti, Mr Clinton has travelled back and forth since the January 12th earthquake. He attended a summit at the White House with President Barack Obama and former president George W Bush to discuss the relief effort. Two weeks ago, he spoke at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
Mr Clinton was also active in the Tsunami relief effort and established the Clinton Global Initiative to combat poverty throughout the world.
Secretary of state Hillary Clinton was seen leaving the White House, where she was in a previously scheduled meeting with President Obama, and did not appear to be “in a rush” or “too concerned”, ABC News reported.
Mrs Clinton was scheduled to leave imminently for the Middle East, but was on her way to New York late yesterday.
Mr Clinton, who was US president from 1993 until 2001, played a crucial role in the Good Friday agreement in 1998. Last September, he invited First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and other leading politicians from Northern Ireland to a special session of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.