Algeria and France agree on keeping Bouteflika’s health condition “confidential”

No new information were leaked about the health state of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika who was flown to hospital in Paris after suffering a mini-stroke, according to Algeria news agency APS.

The President’s Office did not issue any release to explain Bouteflika’s health condition. Military guards are surrounding Val-De-Grâce hospital which usually receives eminent French and foreign personalities.

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal Saturday said “there was no need for concern.”

“Several hours ago the president felt a little faint and was hospitalised, but his situation is not at all serious,” he also said.

French defense ministry refused to give any information about the president’s health state, according to French news agency AFP. It justifies its position by “respect of medical secret,” saying it only gives “ordinary information about the health state of a big nation’s president like Algeria.”

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius did not make any comments, saying he hopes that “France’s friend” would recover soon.

French authorities repeated their Algerian counterparts’ statements, saying there is “no cause for anxiety” about Bouteflika’s health condition.

 APS reported that the transient ischemic attack did not last long and the condition is reversible, citing the president’s doctor Rachid Bougherbal.

He added that Bouteflika had “complete balance” and was “recovering some of the fatigue caused by the ailment”.

Earlier in 2005, the president was taken to Val-De-Grâce hospital in emergency to undergo a surgery as he suffered from gastric ulcer which caused him bleeding.