Dalai Lama in Hospital After Suffering Stomach Pain

The Dalai Lama has been admitted to hospital in India for tests after complaining of stomach pain.

The office of the 73-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader said he was suffering from exhaustion and had canceled two planned international trips. "Since tests haven't begun yet, we don't know what the ailment is,'' said his spokesman, Tenzin Takla. ''Medical tests will begin on Friday.''Yesterday, the Dalai Lama's office announced he had called off trips to Mexico and the Dominican Republic to spend three weeks recuperating after being diagnosed with exhaustion. Takla said the Dalai Lama would spend time resting in Mumbai before returning to Dharmsala, where he has lived since fleeing Tibet in 1959.

A spokesman for Mumbai's Lilavati hospital suggested the visit was unexpected. "He comes every six months for a routine checkup. Around a month ago, a checkup was conducted and he was in perfect health," Mohan Rajan said.

The Dalai Lama will be under the care of senior surgeon Narendra Trivedi while at the hospital.

He had just returned to India from an 11-day visit to France, which followed an intense few months since riots against Chinese rule broke out in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.

The spiritual leader spends several months a year traveling the globe to draw attention to the struggle of Tibetans for greater freedom in China and to teach Buddhism. Although he is general thought to be in good health, the Buddhist leader as been diagnosed with exhaustion before. In 2006, he was forced by doctors to cancel all his engagements for a month.