On Monday, a motorcade carrying Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe entered a hospital in Tokyo again stirring up questions about his ability to remain a leader due to health problems and tiredness from handling the coronavirus crisis. Abe will collect results from a week ago from a medical check-up, local media said citing government sources. Abe underwent a seven-and-a-half hour examination which fuelled his health concerns.
Dozens of reporters have watched the hospital arrive as a black sedan with white curtains carrying Abe on the back seat. Abe, already the longest-serving prime minister in the world, surpassed a half-century-old record set by his grand-uncle, Eisaku Sato, for the longest consecutive term as prime minister on Monday, adding to the speculation that he may resign after the milestone reached.
So, Abe, who had been in office since 2012 in his second tenure as prime minister, resigned from his first term in 2007 due to problems with ulcerative colitis, which he now holds under control with medications that were not available before. Abe has endured a fall to one of the lowest rates of public opinion polling since he took power because of what the respondents see as his haphazard treatment of the coronavirus and a series of scandals.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Hospitalization
Japanese media have this month reported on Abe’s fitness, including extensive reports on Abe’s pace of walking. Weekly Flash magazine announced on July 6 that Abe had vomited blood at his office. Reuters was unable to verify the widely cited report, which government officials have refuted. The office of the Prime Minister did not offer a thorough explanation of last week’s hospital visit. Thus, Health Minister Katsunobu Kato, a close associate. Thus, said it was a routine check-up and he was “not at all” concerned about the health of Abe.
Abe gets a routine check-up twice a year, with his latest on June 13, said Kyodo news agency. Thus, adding that last week’s visit was a follow-up to the June check-up, citing a source for the hospital. When Abe injures, Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, serves as finance minister. He will take over as acting prime minister for a brief period. When Abe announces he has decided to resign, he will remain in the post until it is officially replaced. It includes a presidential election of the governing Liberal Democratic Party. Thus, preceded by the formal election of the winner in parliament.
