Tongan palace sets up website with reports on king's condition

A website is being set up to provide regular condition reports on the health of Tonga's king.

Aucklander Melino Maka is designing the website, which will be hosted in New Zealand.

Mr Maka told the Matangi Tonga newspaper that the updating of the website will be carried out by the staff of the island nation's Lord Chamberlain.

The chamberlain, Fielakepa, is a New Zealand-educated Tongan noble who uses a single name, and is a former lands minister assigned to serve the monarch.

Mr Fielakepa said it was essential to provide a regular update, "every six hours, or every 24 hours of the state of the health of the king," to provide the media and the public with the correct information.

The king, Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, 88, was earlier this month admitted to the private Mercy Hospital in Auckland and has been reported to have been gravely ill over the past two weeks.

Close family members have stayed at his bedside, Tongan politicians have called on church leaders and prayer groups to pray for him.

Details of the king's health problems have not been released, but he has struggled with obesity for years and is believed to be suffering heart disease, diabetes and associated ailments.

In the past year, the king's health has confined him mostly to his residence in Auckland, with frequent visits to hospital, though he returned briefly to Tonga to attend celebrations for his 88th birthday on July 4.

The address of the web-site will be announced tomorrow, when the site will be officially posted on the internet.

- NZPA