Suharto not improving, still on ventilator

Critically ill former Indonesian president Suharto, who has been hospitalised for two weeks, is not showing signs of getting better and remains on a ventilator, his doctors said Thursday.

"General conditions have not shown improvement," the doctors said in a press release issued ahead of an expected briefing to reporters.

"Breathing is still being assisted by a breathing apparatus, the functions of the heart and lungs have not yet improved and there are still signs of a systemic infection," it said.

Suharto, who ruled the world's fourth most populous nation ruthlessly for three decades, was first admitted to hospital on January 4 and suffered multiple organ failure a week later, when he was hooked up to a ventilator. His condition has since been fluctuating on an almost daily basis.

Doctors said Wednesday they had begun to try slowly weaning him off the ventilator, which they say puts him at greater risk of contracting infection, but warned his general condition remained unstable.

Jakarta, Thursday, AFP