Lusaka authorities have promised they will keep his compatriots fully informed on his condition. He has been admitted to a hospital in Johannesburg.

President Edgar Lungu collapsed in Lusaka last Saturday after cutting short a speech he was making.

Doctors said he was suffering from malaria.

He was discharged from hospital on Monday and his medical staff said he was suffering from Achalasia which is a narrowing of the oesophagus.

Visiting a slum in Lusaka yesterday, Lungu said he was feeling better but needed to go to South Africa for an examination and, if necessary, an operation.

The 58-year-old joked to reporters that he hopes to come back alive because everyone likes to live.

Zambians are not amused.

They have had two presidents die in foreign hospitals these past six years.

Lungu is serving out the last two years of the term of Michael Sata who died in London last year.

Levy Mwanawasa died in a Paris hospital in 2009.

During his election campaign last year, Lungu offered to undergo a medical examination.

Zambian authorities, who have grown accustomed to treating the president’s health as an official secret, promised it will be different this time.

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President Edgar Lungu’s being treated for malaria and exhaustion.

Zambians have seen two presidents die in office: Michael Sata last year and Levy Mwanawasa seven years ago.

So they’re particularly sensitive about their president’s health.

Campaigning for the job last year Edgar Lungu offered a medical certificate testifying to his good health.

He was delivering a speech to commemorate International Women’s Day at Heroes Stadium in the capital, Lusaka, on Saturday when he excused himself from the podium and then collapsed.

A snap test confirmed malaria.

The president was rushed to the Maina Soko Military hospital in Lusaka, where he is being treated for malaria and exhaustion.

Lungu says in a statement he’s feeling much better, adding there’s nothing to worry about.

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The 58-year old Zambian leader collapsed while making a speech in Lusaka on Saturday.

His doctors said then he had malaria.

President Edgar Lungu’s office said after his collapse that he was feeling well, apart from the malaria, and would be going home today.

Now they report he’s suffering from a narrowing of the oesophagus which needs a high-tech medical procedure which is currently unavailable in Zambia.

So he’s been referred for specialised treatment abroad.

Lungu was treated for this condition 30 years ago.

Zambians are understandably unsettled.

Two previous presidents Michael Sata and Levy Mwanawasa died while receiving medical treatment abroad.

Both assured their compatriots they were well.

During the election campaign, Lungu, who took office in January, denied reports he was sick and offered to undergo a medical check-up.

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There’s been considerable jostling among contenders within the ruling party but members insist the Patriotic Front now presents a united front.

Michael Sata is the second Zambian president to die in office. Levy Mwanawasa passed in 2008.

Justice and defence minister Edgar Lungu is the frontrunner to become Zambia’s sixth president. He’s facing three opponents.

Lungu’s produced a certificate of good health. It’s not a prerequisite but it make good political sense.

Guy Scott, a white Zambian of Scottish descent, has been interim president since Sata’s death.

He’s ineligible to stand in tomorrow’s election because his parents were not born in Zambia.

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