Olmert Unwell, Taken from Prison to Hospital

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was described as in mild and stable condition in Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan on Tuesday.

He was taken there from Maasiyahu Prison in Ramle after saying that he “didn’t feel well.”

An echocardiogram conducted at Sheba showed Olmert’s heart function is stable, but the doctors are advising further tests. Olmert associates told The Jerusalem Post that Olmert has lost as much as 15 pounds in recent weeks, and the reason is not known.

They alleged that the Prison Service has been unresponsive to his medical needs. The authorities were slow in replying to a request to allow his personal doctor, Shlomo Segev, to examine him. The request was made last Thursday, but there was no response until Tuesday.

“Sunday at his [parole] hearing, he looked like he was on the verge of a heart attack,” someone close to Olmert said. “Only when he complained of chest pains did the Prison Service send their doctor, who allowed him to be evacuated to Sheba.”

“We are angry that our warnings about his health conditions were ignored,” a source in Olmert’s defense team said. “It did not have to get to this point.”

IPS spokesman Assaf Liberati confirmed the request for his personal physician, but said it is not unusual for such a request to take a number of days to process.

The 71-year-old Olmert is serving a 27-month sentence for convictions in 2014 in a wide-ranging case that accused him of accepting bribes to promote a real-estate project, years before he became premier in 2006. His appeal for early release and an allegation that he leaked classified documents while writing a memoir in prison have put him back in the headlines in recent days.