The Algerian president has just been hospitalized in a private clinic in Grenoble, completing the long list of heads of state who choose France for treatment.
Decidedly, France is the land of welcome for sick heads of state. And in particular Abdelaziz Bouteflika. After being hospitalized in January in Paris for “minor” stroke (according to the official version), the Algerian president has just been received at the d’Alembert clinic in Grenoble.
Floor reserved, CRS deployed
According to the Dauphine, who revealed his hospitalization, the Algerian head of state arrived in the middle of the week on French territory. An entire floor would have been reserved for his use, and a CRS company was deployed this afternoon around the building and in the neighborhood to ensure his safety from the head of state.
His transfer was handled with the utmost discretion. The Quai d’Orsay does not confirm her hospitalization, but does not deny it either, according to the Parisian. The ministry refers to the authorities of Algiers, “the only ones empowered to comment on the Algerian presidency”.
Degraded state of health
The reasons for his hospitalization are still unknown. The Algerian president has been experiencing repeated health problems since a hemorrhagic ulcer in 2005. He was notably the victim of a stroke in April 2013, which had resulted in a two-and-a-half-month hospitalization in France, at the hospital of Val-de-Grâce and Les Invalides.
At 77, Abdelaziz Bouteflika was re-elected for a fourth term in April. Largely absent during the Algerian electoral campaign, he went in a wheelchair to the voting booth to vote. In Algeria, his state of health is controversial. His appearances on state television are extremely rare, and reserved for very special occasions.
The “diplomacy of the hospital bed”
Abdelaziz Bouteflika thus completes the long list of presidents and businessmen who have come from all over the world to seek treatment in France. In fact, France is one of the preferred destinations for sick heads of state. Before him, the Palestinians Georges Habache or Yasser Arafat, the Presidents of Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, North Korea, and many others took the road to French hospitals. The military hospital of Val-de-Grâce and the American hospital of Neuilly-sur-Seine are particularly coveted.
But they are not the only ones. And if this “French diplomacy of the hospital bed”, to use the expression of Rue89 who investigated the subject, testifies to the reputation of excellence of the French health system, it is not without its problems. Latest controversial example to date: the hospitalization of a Saudi prince in Ambroise Paré (Boulogne). For him and the thirty people who accompanied him, the hospital had rolled out the red carpet: 9 reserved rooms – an entire floor – plus a relaxation room, and attentive staff.
This preferential treatment had provoked satires in the press. But far from being moved by it, French hospitals are very favorable to these initiatives. “The Saudis do not benefit from the system, defended Thierry Guigui, CGT union delegate. They come with their nurses, bring their food. Their arrival does not cost Social Security anything and even allows the hospital to bring in funds. We need this type of contribution, insists Thierry Guigui. They paid 30% more for nine rooms ”. Health is priceless… but that of foreign heads of state can nevertheless prove to be very fruitful.
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