Vice Premier Shimon Peres was in a cheerful mood Wednesday in his bed at the Emek Hospital in Afula.
He was taken there for treatment of a urinary tract infection, after complaining Tuesday of nausea and dizziness while visiting Druse villages in Galilee.
The 66-year-old Labor Party leader and finance minister spoke light-heartedly in a telephone interview with Israel Radio from the hospital’s urological ward.
“It’s not bad to spend a day or so in the hospital,” he said. “They don’t bother you with questions about a depression or inflation.
“And they certainly can’t blame me for the San Francisco earthquake. I was in bed here when it happened,” Peres quipped.
Dr. Udi Cantor, the hospital’s deputy medical director, said Peres would remain there for another day or so. He was running a high fever on his arrival and was pumped full of antibiotics.
The doctor said there was no connection between his present condition and the prostate surgery Peres underwent a year ago.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.