“It just lost strength”: Tun Mahathir recounts frightening fall

SHAH ALAM – Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has recounted a frightening incident earlier this year when he fell during a walking exercise after suddenly losing control of his right leg.

The former Langkawi MP said the January incident left him with serious injuries, including a hip fracture and a head wound, which required immediate treatment at the National Heart Institute (IJN).

“I was practising walking when suddenly my right leg lost strength. When that happened, I fell,” he said in a video posted on social media on Tuesday.

He said the fall caused a fracture to his hip joint and a minor head injury, describing the pain as extremely intense.

“I was taken to IJN and they tried to manage the pain, but it was very difficult. The pain was severe,” he said, adding that it only began to subside after a few days, although some discomfort remained.

Dr Mahathir explained that the fracture occurred at the joint between the leg and the hip during the fall.

His health had previously drawn public attention after he underwent treatment at IJN for several months before being discharged in March.

Now, three months on, he said his condition has improved and he is able to stand again, although he still faces difficulty fully controlling the movement of his leg.

“After three months, my leg has healed and I can stand. But I still can’t fully control it, it feels as though the leg isn’t there,” he said.