Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim was hospitalised at Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH) on the morning of March 5.

He suffered an adverse reaction to a steroid injection to his right shoulder, and was admitted to KLH's coronary care unit at about 1 am.

Injection for pain relief

According to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People's Justice Party or PKR)'s communications director Fahmi Fadzil, the steroid injection was administered to Anwar on March 3.

Anwar was still suffering prolonged pain from keyhole surgery on his right shoulder, which was performed back in Nov. 2017.

In a statement, Fahmi said:

"We will release updates on Anwar's health from time to time. We ask everyone to pray for Anwar's safety and health."

Fahmi added that Anwar's heart rate is low and "alarming", but his situation is "stable".

[related_story]

Political implications

Anwar is the current leader of PKR, which is part of the Pakatan Harapan (Pact of Hope or PH) coalition.

PH also includes Mahathir Mohamad in its ranks, Anwar's former mentor-turned-rival-turned-ally-once-more.

At its party convention on Jan. 7, 2018, PH chose Mahathir Mohamad to be their candidate for Prime Minister.

However, there was also some talk about clearing a path so that Anwar could take over as Prime Minister, if PH wins the upcoming general election.

It's not known if Mahathir has attempted to visit his political ally in hospital, considering that he was barred from doing so on Jan. 10.

With Anwar in hospital for an indefinite length of time, it might affect the political campaigns for the upcoming election.

Related stories:

Top image from Wan Azizah's Facebook page.