Zambia's vice president is disputing reports that President Michael Sata has fallen ill and received medical treatment in New York.
Sata did not address the United Nations General Assembly as planned on Wednesday, and New York police told VOA that he was treated at his hotel Thursday by doctors with the U.S. State Department.
However, Zambian Vice President Guy Scott told his country's parliament Friday that the president's health is "entirely normal," and that Sata has not received any emergency or specialized medical treatment.
Concerns about the 77-year-old president's health have been mounting in Zambia since he traveled to Israel for medical treatment in June and then withdrew from the public eye
The president was not seen in public for almost three months before he attended the opening session of the Zambian parliament last week.
At the start of his address in Lusaka, Sata jokingly told lawmakers, "I am not dead."
Zambia's address to the U.N. General Assembly is now set to be read by the country's minister of foreign affairs, Harry Kalaba, late Friday.
Material for this report came from AP and Reuters.
