Israel: PM Netanyahu to be fitted with pacemaker overnight

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be fitted with a pacemaker overnight between Saturday and Sunday, he said in a video statement released by his office.

“A week ago I was fitted with a monitoring device. That device beeped this evening and said I must have a pacemaker and that I must do this already tonight,” Netanyahu said in the video. “I feel great, but I need to listen to my doctors.”

Standing in the video and smiling, Netanyahu, 73, said his doctors assured him he would be discharged from the hospital “tomorrow afternoon”.

His office said he would undergo the procedure at Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer, Reuters reported. 

Netanyahu was initially discharged from hospital on Sunday following an overnight stay for dehydration, Dr. Amit Segev of the Sheba Medical Center said at the time in a video posted to Twitter. 

Segev, an interventional cardiologist, had said Netanyahu’s heart was “completely normal” but that a heart monitor was needed to collect and analyse data further.

The information gathered by the monitor has indicated the need for a pacemaker, which is a small, battery-powered device that helps the heart beat at a normal rate and rhythm using electrical pulses.

Netanyahu was rushed to the hospital last week after experiencing “mild dizziness”, his office said in a statement at the time. 

Source: Middle East Eye