Treatment Continues For Ailing Thai King: Palace

BANGKOK, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Augst,2016) - Thailand's hospital-bound King Bhumibol Adulyadej is still being treated for fever and water on the brain, the palace said Monday in the latest in a series of updates on the 88-year-old's health. The world's longest-reigning monarch is widely revered and his frail health is a matter of great public concern. He is confined to a wheelchair and has not been seen or spoken in public for nearly a year.

But in recent months the palace has begun releasing regular updates on his health. The king's reign has spanned seven tumultuous decades and most Thais have never known another monarch. Analysts say a decade-long political crisis is in part motivated by elites jostling for primacy once his reign ends.

Bhumibol has spent most of the past two years in hospital in Bangkok for a series of ailments, including bacterial infections, breathing difficulties, heart problems and hydrocephalus -- a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid often dubbed water on the brain. In the latest statement by the Royal Household Bureau on Monday night, doctors said they continued to use antibiotics to treat the infections causing his fever.

"After taking antibiotics his condition has got better but he still has some fever," the statement said. Doctors added that they had continued to adjust a catheter to drain excess spinal fluid, with satisfactory results. Bhumibol is seen by most Thais as a unifying force in a nation bitterly divided along political lines.