Nepal's president flown to Indian capital for medical treatment

Nepal's President Ram Chandra Paudel was flown on Wednesday to the Indian capital of New Delhi to seek advanced treatment for chest and abdominal problems at a premier government hospital, officials said.

Vice President Ram Sahaya Yadav will stand in for Paudel while he is away, presidential spokesperson Sagar Acharya said.

Paudel, 78, spent five days this month in the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu, after complaining of a chest problem.
He was taken to the hospital again on Tuesday with the same problem.

This time, Nepali doctors and family members decided he should be sent to the state-run All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), for "better and advanced treatment", Baikuntha Thapaliya, a spokesperson for the Nepali hospital, told Reuters.

One of Paudel's aides, Kiran Pokhrel, said he was taken to India by an air ambulance on Wednesday morning.
Paudel, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress party, was elected as the Himalayan nation's third president in March amid a bitter crisis in the then-ruling coalition.

The coalition split after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a former Maoist rebel leader, supported Paudel - an opposition candidate - for the post.

His election led to the formation of a new coalition between Dahal's Maoist Centre party and the centrist Nepali Congress party.

Paudel had been treated for chest and abdomen problems in recent years.

Nepalis, including politicians, often travel to India for medical treatment as their southern neighbor can offer better medical facilities than Nepal.