Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong Has Prostate Cancer, To Take Medical Leave

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will undergo surgery to remove his prostate gland on Monday, his office said in a statement on Sunday.

Lee, 63, will be on medical leave for one week and during this period Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean will head the government, the statement appearing on Lee's Facebook page said.

Lee decided on the surgery option on the advice of a panel of doctors and is expected to recover fully, the statement said.

The elder son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, Lee was previously diagnosed with lymphoma in 1992 but the cancer went into remission after successful chemotherapy.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Mark Heinrich)