The benchmark SET Index of shares slumped the most in Asia and the yield on 10-year sovereign bonds climbed to a three-week high after the palace said on Sunday doctors are closely monitoring Bhumibol Adulyadej’s condition. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

News about the king’s health is closely monitored in Thailand, where King Bhumibol is widely revered, and the wording of palace statements on his health is intensely scrutinized. THE LISTENING POST: Thailand's lese majeste law

Over the past two years he has also been treated for bacterial infections, breathing difficulties, heart problems and hydrocephalus - a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid often referred to as "water on the brain". Concern about succession has been entwined with Thailand’s political turmoil in the past decade, as royalists have sought to ensure that they control the process instead of certain politicians whose fealty to the monarchy they doubt. Sunday’s statement was the second health bulletin this month after the palace said on Oct. 1 that the king was recovering after a respiratory infection. On Saturday, the king was given hemodialysis - a way of cleansing the blood of toxins, extra salts and fluids - which made his blood pressure drop occasionally, the palace said. On Sunday, the doctors gave the King medicine to expand blood vessels around his lungs following an echocardiography -- a sonogram of the heart -- which showed that blood flow to the left side of his heart had reduced significantly. Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej is in an “unstable” condition after undergoing multiple medical procedures, and is now confined in a hospital, a statement from the palace confirmed.
Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, the world's longest reigning monarch, is in unstable condition after a hemodialysis treatment.