Palestinian Leader Still In Critical Condition

The family of prominent Palestinian leader, Saeb Erekat said yesterday that he was in a stable but critical condition, local media reported two days after being rushed to an Israeli hospital with Covid-19-related complications.
“Dr Erekat’s family confirmed that his health status is stable,” the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
“Erekat is still in intensive care and undergoing artificial respiration,” it added.
Erekat, 65, was transferred from his West Bank home town to Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the hospital told dpa Erekat’s condition was unchanged. On Monday, the hospital said he was in critical condition.
Doctors said Erekat’s treatment posed an enormous challenge as a lung-transplant patient with a suppressed immune system, which had caused a bacterial infection in addition to the virus.
He was anaesthetised and put on a respirator due to respiratory distress.
The long-time chief Palestinian negotiator, who is secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), tested positive for the coronavirus earlier in the month.
Erekat, one of the most visible Palestinian official on the world stage and a top aide to President Mahmoud Abbas, suffered from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and had a lung transplant in a U.S. hospital in 2017.