By Mike Dougherty
The Post-Bulletin
Ten days after arriving in Rochester for a medical examination, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani concluded his visit at Mayo Clinic.
A Mayo Clinic spokeswoman said Wednesday afternoon that Talabani is no longer a patient and had completed his exam. His motorcade was seen traveling south in Rochester toward Rochester International Airport.
Talabani, a 73-year-old Sunni Kurd, flew May 20 from the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad, landing in Rochester in the early evening.
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Many Middle East political leaders have been treated at Mayo Clinic. King Hussein of Jordan received medical care here in the 1990s. He died of cancer in 1999.
Earlier this year, Talabani was admitted to King Hussein Medical Center in Amman in Jordan after he collapsed in Sulaimaniyah. He was unconscious as he was rushed to a local hospital but recovered enough to be flown to Jordan. Doctors said he suffered from exhaustion and dehydration caused by lung and sinus infections.
At the time he came to Rochester, Talabani’s office said he was at Mayo Clinic for a medical checkup and to lose weight.
