CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak left the intensive care unit of a German hospital on Wednesday, four days after having a gall bladder removed, Health Minister Hatem El-Gabaly said.
Mubarak, 81, “left the intensive care unit this morning for an ordinary room at the Heidelberg University Hospital, El-Gabaly was quoted by the official MENA news agency as saying.
“The president’s general state is constantly improving, El-Gabaly added, without indicating when Mubarak might leave the hospital.
During the surgery on Saturday, Mubarak also had a growth removed from his small intestine.
In 2004, the president was treated in Germany for a slipped disc.
Mubarak has delegated executive powers to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif until he returns to Cairo.
His health is usually a taboo subject in the country he has ruled since 1981, fuelling regular rumors. Journalists writing about Mubarak’s health have been handed jail sentences in the past.
Mubarak’s fifth six-year term as president ends in 2011. During a speech in 2005, he said he would stay in power until his “last breath. -AFP
