Dalai Lama hospitalised with stomach pain: spokesman

DHARAMSHALA, India (AFP) — The Dalai Lama was taken to hospital in India on Thursday after complaining of stomach pain, his office said.
The Dalai Lama's admission to a hospital in Mumbai came a day after the Tibetan spiritual leader's office said he was suffering from exhaustion and would travel to the city for a medical check-up.
"There is nothing major to feel concerned about," his personal secretary Tenzin Taklha told AFP in the Indian hill town of Dharamshala, where the Tibetan government-in-exile is based.
"But he has been admitted to the Lilivati Hospital in Mumbai because he was feeling some discomfort in his abdomen."
"The Dalai Lama will be examined by doctors tomorrow (Friday)," he said.
The check-up is being carried out "at the recommendation of his personal physicians," Taklha said.
In 2002 the leader of Tibetan Buddhists was admitted to the Lilivati Hospital after falling ill with stomach pains. He was treated with antibiotics.
The 73-year-old spiritual leader had been pursuing a gruelling travel itinerary as he campaigned for improved human rights in Tibet while China readied to host the Olympic Games in Beijing that ended on August 24.
The Nobel peace prize winner returned last weekend from France where he met Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, human rights minister Rama Yade and first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Violent protests against Chinese rule broke out across Tibet in March, sparking a heavy Chinese crackdown on the Himalayan region that has drawn global condemnation.
His office said on Wednesday said the monk would now not lead a worldwide 12-hour fast on August 30 intended to ensure attention to the campaign for improved human rights in Tibet did not drop off in the wake of the Olympics.
Officials said the fast and prayer session planned for his followers around the world will take place without him.
Planned visits to Mexico and the Dominican Republic have been dropped, the statement added.
The leader had already undergone some tests earlier this month, his office said, without providing further details.
China sent troops into Tibet in 1950 and "liberated" it the following year. The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
The Dalai Lama has kept reaching out to Beijing, despite being vilified by China as "mastermind" of a drive to sabotage the Olympics and destabilise the country.
Clad in the maroon robes of a monk, he is loved by supporters for his contagious laugh and engaging grin, set off by oversized glasses, and is regarded by many as a visionary equal to Indian independence icon Mahatma Gandhi.