REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANGKOK - Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, had undergone surgery to remove his gallbladder, the palace said in a televised statement on Monday.
The declining health of the 86-year-old king has formed the backdrop to Thailand's protracted political crisis, and Monday's palace update came shortly after Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power in a coup in May, had visited the Bangkok hospital where Bhumibol is recuperating.
"On Oct. 5 medics X-rayed His Majesty and found his gallbladder very swollen. Last night at 09:45 p.m. doctors ... inserted a camera into the stomach (area) and removed the gallbladder," the statement from the palace said.
"The operation was satisfactory and His Majesty returned to his room at 20 minutes past midnight. This morning the heartbeat has lowered, blood pressure is normal and His Majesty's fever is lower. Doctors continue to administer antibiotics and continue to administer an intravenous drip."
Gallbladder removal is a common surgical procedure, usually carried out to relieve painful gallstones, and loss of the organ does not cause complications for most patients.
The king was discharged from hospital last month after nearly five weeks of treatment for stomach inflammation. He was readmitted to hospital late on Friday for what the Royal Household Bureau said was a fever and irregular blood pressure.
Seen as a unifying figure in Thailand, Bhumibol's health is a subject of keen public concern. He is revered by many Thais and his portrait hangs in every government building and in many shops and homes.
He left the same hospital in 2013 after spending nearly four years in a special suite of the hospital after being admitted in 2009 for a lung infection. Since then Bhumibol has rarely been seen apart from a handful of public engagements, and spends most of his time at the Klai Kangwon Palace - which translates as "Far from Worries Palace" - in the seaside town of Hua Hin, south of Bangkok.
Bhumibol, a constitutional monarch, made several interventions in the 1970s and 1990s to call for calm during political crises. He stayed silent during the latest crisis, which began in November and culminated in a May 22 coup.
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