A day before he was to fly to Singapore for medical tests, Nepal's former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala and chief of the republic's second largest party was rushed to hospital on Tuesday for emergency treatment after he complained of breathing difficulties and chest pain.

A team of seven physicians, including two of Koirala's personal doctors, began treating the 84-year-old who was rushed to the Shahid Gangalal National Heart Centre in the capital where he has been admitted to the intensive care unit.