Former Argentine President Carlos Menem, in an induced coma after suffering a kidney complication

File image of the former president of Argentina, Carlos Menem, Illustrated Service (Automatic) / Europa Press

Former Argentine president Carlos Menem is in an induced coma after suffering a kidney complication that led him to be admitted ten days ago to a hospital in Buenos Aires, according to the national press.

Sources from the former president's family have told the Argentine newspaper

that doctors have detected a high dose of potassium in his blood that forced him to undergo dialysis to prevent the condition from worsening and, due to his delicate condition and advanced age ( 90 years), it has been chosen to induce a coma.

Menem has been admitted since last week in the coronary unit of the Los Arcos clinic, in Buenos Aires, due to a urinary infection that was complicated by heart problems.

Last Sunday, his personal doctor, Luis de la Fuente, had reported a small improvement that kept him "stable."

The ex-president, who ruled Argentina between 1989 and 1999, has had numerous health problems in recent times.

Only during this year has he been admitted two more times, once for pneumonia and another for low blood saturation.