Incoming finance minister Rapanos hospitalized
Greece’s incoming finance minister Vassilis Rapanos was rushed to hospital on Friday after complaining of nausea, intense abdominal pains and dizziness, medical authorities said.
Rapanos had undergone checks at a hospital on Friday morning after a difficult night but returned to work. He was later rushed back to the medical facility, said a source at the bank where he is chairman.
“Vassilis Rapanos was admitted today because of intense abdominal pains, dizziness, nausea, sweating and weakness. His condition has stabilised,» Hygeia Hospital in Athens said in a statement.
He was given fluids intravenously and is undergoing checks, the banking source said.
Rapanos, the chairman of Greece’s biggest commercial bank National Bank of Greece, has been named finance minister in new Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s cabinet.
He was due to be sworn in later on Friday, but the Greek president’s office said the ceremony would now be limited to two other deputy ministers who were scheduled to be sworn in alongside the finance minister.
The news came hours after Samaras’s office said the new premier himself would undergo eye surgery on Saturday to repair a damaged retina, forcing him to cancel a meeting of his parliamentary group on Friday.
[Reuters]
