Habibie kept under medical observation

BANDUNG. Indonesia’s third president, BJ Habibie, was put under 12-hour medical observation at the Borromeus Hospital in Bandung, West Java, after returning home from Jakarta, where he had attended the swearing-in ceremony for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Monday morning.

The hospital’s secretary, Kornelius Rukmana, said Habibie, who is also former president director of PT Dirgantara Indonesia, had arrived at the hospital at around 1 a.m. on Tuesday.

“Pak Habibie was admitted via the emergency room as the polyclinic had already been closed,” Kornelius said in Bandung on Tuesday.

He added that Habibie’s condition was generally fine. “He just needs to rest. Just now, he walked outside the room by himself,” he said.

Upon arrival at the hospital, Habibie was given a 20-minute physical test at the emergency room. After that, he rested on the VIP ward, on the fifth floor of the hospital’s Yoseph building. Hospital authorities banned journalists to come close to the room in which Habibie was taking a rest.