FG hospitalized

Source: Manila Bulletin
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo skipped her speaking engagement at the historic landmark Manila Hotel Thursday to rush First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Global City, Taguig, due to back pains believed related to his previous heart condition, Malacañang said.

Press Secretary Crispulo Icban Jr. confirmed that the First Gentleman was taken to the hospital at 8.a.m. after he developed a “re-dissection of the thoracic aorta and experienced back pains,” quoting Dr. Rommel Carino, a cardiac surgeon.

In a statement provided by the Office of the Press Secretary, Carino said Arroyo is under “continuous monitoring” in the coronary care unit of St. Luke's Global City.

“The condition calls for intense medical care to control the blood pressure and heart rate to prevent further re-dissection. A rapture can cause compression of the blood supply to various vital organs,” Carino said.

“Right now we are controlling the vital signs and back pains,” he said. Arroyo’s attending physician is Dr. Juliet Gopez Cervantes.

In April 2007, Arroyo underwent a triple heart bypass operation and the aortic dissection.

The President was supposed to keynote the 22nd Annual Convention of the Prosecutors League of the Philippines in Manila Hotel’s Fiesta Pavillion at 10 a.m.

Prompted by the pressing need to be with her husband, Icban said, the President cancelled her appointments, including her attendance to the groundbreaking ceremony and the presentation of the memorandum of agreement for the 300-hectare AFP off-base housing projects in San Miguel, Bulacan and to the 4th ASEAN Festival of Arts Grand Cultural Show in Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga.

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Ricardo Saludo said Malacañang is “praying for the speedy recovery” of the First Gentleman from the heart ailment.

It was recalled that in November, 2008, a chartered plane carrying President Arroyo’s delegation to attend the 16th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peruvian capital of Lima made an emergency landing in Osaka, Japan after the First Gentleman complained of back pain and stomach cramps, which was later declared as an acute infection related to diarrhea.

Asked if the First Gentleman will undergo another heart bypass operation, Saludo said it is up to the medical authorities to determine what appropriate medical attention should be received by Mrs. Arroyo’s husband. He added that Arroyo’s doctors will also decide if social visits will be permitted.

He said the President will certainly be with her husband to give her support in the coming days even as the local campaign starts today, March 26.

Malacañang earlier said there is no need for the President to campaign since she has the all-out support of her cabalens, particularly in Pampanga’s second district where she is running for congressman.