BANGKOK: Thailand’s billionaire former premier Thaksin Shinawatra was still being treated in hospital on Friday (Aug 25) and his condition remained a concern, a senior doctor said, three days after his historic return from self-exile.
Thaksin, 74, was hospitalised after suffering chest tightness and high blood pressure on the first night in prison, where he has been ordered to serve eight years for conflicts of interest and abuse of power.
“He is coughing … and from the lung X-rays, heart and lung specialists are still worried,” Soponrat Singhajaru, a senior doctor at Bangkok’s police hospital, told reporters, declining to elaborate because of patient confidentiality.
Thailand’s most famous politician arrived on a private jet to cheering crowds on Tuesday before being taken to a court, a prison and then hours later, a hospital, in dramatic events that overshadowed political ally Srettha Thavisin taking over as prime minister that same day.