Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat – Medical sources informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has undergone an operation to have his chest tube removed, in a further sign that the health of the Yemeni president continues to improve. The chest tube is a flexible plastic tube that is inserted through the side of the chest into the pleural space; it is used to remove air [pneumothorax], or fluid such as pleural effusion, blood, chyle, or pus.
The Saudi medical team that has been treating President Saleh at a military hospital in Riyadh for the past 3 weeks had decided to remove Saleh from the intensive care unit after his health improved.
The medical sources informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Ali Abdullah Saleh underwent the operation to remove the chest tube early Tuesday morning.
Medical sources also informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Saleh had been taken off the respirator and that he is now able to breathe on his own. The sources also revealed that Saleh has been moved to the “royal suite” within the military hospital. The “royal suite” includes rooms to meet guests and visitors, and the medical sources stressed that this indicates that the Yemeni president’s health is on the mend.
A group of Yemeni officials injured in the same attack as Saleh are also being treated in the same Riyadh military hospital. Asharq Al-Awsat learnt that one of these Yemeni officials has had his right leg amputated, as well as a metal rod inserted into his right arm.
Asharq Al-Awsat also learned that a senior Saudi Arabian military official has been visiting Saleh on a daily basis since he first arrived in Riyadh, in order to monitor the progress of the Yemeni president’s medical treatment, by order of the Saudi government.
A Saudi official, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, stressed that Riyadh’s acceptance and treatment of Saleh and the other Yemeni officials injured in the RPG attack on the presidential compound, was based on “humanitarian motives.”
Deputy Yemeni Information Minister Abdo al-Janadi said that Ali Abdullah Saleh “is constantly in contact with the [Yemeni] vice president…and he is well. His wounds are of no source of worry.” He also revealed that “Saleh is now undergoing plastic surgery from the burns he had suffered in the attack.”