MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine president suspends activities because of low blood pressure

This is the third time this year CFK has been diagnosed

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner decided on Tuesday to cancel her attendance to a political rally due to a case of low blood pressure, her spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro announced.

A later release from the Presidential Medical Unit states that “today the President of the Nation, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner presented a case of arterial hypotension because of which she was recommended to suspend all activities for the rest of the day”.

This is not the first time the Argentine leader has suffered from a bout of low pressure. So far this year she faced a similar situation in three occasions, the last two in April and earlier in January.

Last April 12 when she suffered a low blood pressure situation the Argentine president was forced to cancel a meeting with the governor from the province od Salta, Juan manuel Uturbey and later had to postpone an official visit to Mexico.

Before that in January, because of extreme hot weather the Argentine president suffered a similar situation and cancelled all activities. Following doctors’ orders she rested at the Presidential residence of Olivos.

In 2009 Mrs Kirchner also underwent a low blood pressure situation forcing her to suspend an official visit to Cuba.

In the run up to the October 23 presidential election when Cristina Fernandez hopes to be re-elected, the president has been involved in a hectic agenda of inaugurations (scissor cuttings) and political rallies, quite a change from her normal life in Government House.

Low blood pressure is a difficult clinical finding for a healthcare provider to address. While high blood pressure is known as the “silent killer,” because it is associated with few acute symptoms, hypotension (hypo, low and tension, pressure) may be normal for a patient if it is without symptoms, but can be of great importance if it is associated with abnormal body function.

Sometimes low is good, a goal to be achieved in keeping blood pressure under control. Sometimes low is bad because there is not enough pressure to provide blood flow to the organs of the body.

This is the third time this year CFK has been diagnosed