Clinton leaves hospital after blood clot treatment

WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has left a New York hospital where she has been treated for a blood clot, US media reported on Wednesday.

CNN footage showed that Clinton walked down the steps and entered a black van on her own, and left New York-Presbyterian Hospital on Wednesday afternoon. She was accompanied by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, her daughter Chelsea and an aide.

But it is still unclear if she has been formally discharged from the hospital, according to the reports.

Earlier the day, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that Clinton had kept in touch with her staff by phone while she was being treated with blood thinners in the hospital.

"She has been talking to her staff, including today. She's been quite active on the phone with all of us," she said at a regular briefing.

Nuland added that on Saturday, before the blood clot was announced, Clinton had spoken by phone with UN-Arab League envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani regarding the situation in Syria.

Clinton was hospitalized with a blood clot in her head on Sunday. Her doctors said that the blood clot was situated in a vein between her brain and skull behind the right ear.

However, they noted that the chief US diplomat had not suffered any "stroke or neurological damage," and they predicted that she should make a "full recovery."

Clinton has encountered a number of health problems recently. On December 15, she fainted and hit her head, consequently sustaining a concussion.

Prior to that, she canceled her scheduled trip to North Africa and the Middle East due to a stomach virus.

Clinton, 65, has said she will step down as secretary of state when President Barack Obama finishes his first term later this month. Due to her illness, Clinton was forced to cancel her scheduled testimony before Congress on December 20 for the deadly attack on US consulate in Benghazi and was also absent when Obama nominated Democratic Senator John Kerry as her successor on December 21.