Ecuadoran Vice President Alfredo Palacio is sworn in as president after Congress voted to fire President Lucio Gutierrez, in Quito, April 20, 2005. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

    QUITO, April 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Ecuador's Vice President Alfredo Palacio was sworn in Wednesday as the new president of Ecuador, after embattled Lucio Gutierrez was removed from office Wednesday by the Congress.

    A few hours before his predecessor was sacked, Palacio declared to foreign correspondents that the country was "in a state of coma" and warned about possible "individuals keeping on proceeding with euthanasia."

    Palacio, a cardiologist who had been Ecuador's minister of health, had practiced medicine for over three decades, without anyparty affiliation.

    However, as a reputed cardiologist, Palacio's patients included members of the Social Christian Party (PSC) and of the Ecuadorian Roldosista Party (PRE), including former president Abdala Bucaram.

    Palacio studied in Guayaquil and in the United States.

    He has been a member of the New York Academy of Science, the editorial committee of the Spanish journal "Ultrasonidos," the Ecuadorian Scientific Community, and the Medico-Surgical Society of the province of Guayas.

    Additionally, he is a member of the Ecuadorian Cardiology Society and the societies of Thorax Specialists, Pediatricians, Radiologists and Internal Medicine.

    He has also received numerous awards in the country. Enditem