Former Uruguayan President Jose “Pepe” Mujica, who was diagnosed in early May with esophageal cancer, was admitted to a hospital on Thursday, for the fourth time in less than two weeks, his family doctor announced.

According to Raquel Panone, the former head of state, 89, had to be hospitalized due to indigestion due to the radiation therapy he is undergoing.

“We started rehydrating him intravenously, and that worked almost immediately. He is doing well,” Mrs. Panone stressed during a press conference, predicting that his hospitalization will continue for a few days.

“The immediate prognosis is that he is stabilized, rehydrated and will begin to be given liquid food to regain his strength,” he explained.

The doctor also seemed reassuring about the course of her patient’s cancer, stressing that Mr. Mujica is “in remission”.

“There is no clinical indication of its (cancer) presence at this time,” he noted.

As for the “long-term” progression, given his age, kidney failure and vasculitis, “I can’t expand,” he added.

The former head of state, known around the world for his spartan lifestyle, characteristic honesty and how he ruled the small Latin American country from 2010 to 2015, attended an event of his party on August 27, hours after leaving the hospital.

“I’m trying to get back on my feet as best I can, but somehow I had to come,” he said, in an apologetic tone, after entering the headquarters of the Broad Front (Frente Amplio, FA), the main opposition in the country, in a wheelchair.

Once a rebel of a far-left movement, a man of spontaneous, unassuming, sometimes belligerent speech, “Pepe” Mujica acquired during his term the nickname “the poorest president in the world”; he continued his frugal life, insisting on living in the poor his farm, commuted by himself in his ancient car—a Volkswagen Beetle—and donated almost the entire presidential salary to a social housing program.

The small Latin American country has been credited with a series of progressive reforms: it decriminalized abortion, same-sex marriage and the use of cannabis; the latest measure was implemented in 2013, then a world first.