Hillary Clinton to be back at work Monday

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. AP/Haraz N. Ghanbari, Pool

WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will return to work on Monday after a month-long absence caused by a series of health scares, including a blood clot in her head, the State Department said.

Clinton’s return, after she was taken ill on her return from a trip to Europe on December 7, was announced in the department’s public schedule for the week ahead released late Sunday.

According to the schedule, the US top diplomat will meet at 9:15 am (1415 GMT) on Monday with her assistant secretaries at the State Department in Washington. The meetings will be closed to the press.

A series of other meetings is planned through the week including talks at the White House on Tuesday with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and National Security Advisor Tom Donilon.

On Thursday, Clinton will host visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the State Department and also welcome him for a working dinner.

Last week, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Clinton was “raring” to get back to work after being treated in a New York hospital for the blood clot discovered in a vein behind her right ear.

The globe-trotting 65-year-old diplomat was admitted to New York Presbyterian Hospital on December 30 after a routine scan revealed the clot in the space between her skull and her brain.

Clinton left hospital late Wednesday after three days of treatment, and headed to her home in Chappaqua, New York, as doctors who have prescribed her blood thinners said they expect her to make a full recovery.

“She’s looking forward to getting back to the office,” Nuland said on Thursday. “She is very much planning to do so next week.”

Nuland said there had been an outpouring of support for Clinton from well-wishers from around the world. “I think you could call the number of goodwill messages a tsunami,” she said.

It is unlikely though that Clinton, the most-traveled secretary of state after notching up almost a million miles and 112 countries during her four years in office, will undertake any more foreign travel in her last weeks in the job.

Her doctors have advised her against any international travel for a while, and Clinton is due to step down towards the end of the month.

President Barack Obama has named veteran senator John Kerry as her successor, and he is set to sail through his confirmation hearings later this month.

Clinton first fell ill with a virulent stomach virus, which caused her to become dehydrated and faint, causing a concussion. The blood clot is believed to have resulted from her fall.