Czech president remains in hospital

Havel has suffered poor health for several years

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Czech President Vaclav Havel will remain in hospital throughout the weekend as he recovers from bronchitis and pneumonia.

Havel became ill during a visit to Kuwait on Monday, and returned immediately to the Czech Republic.

He was taken straight to a military hospital on his return to Prague.

"There have been no significant changes to his health," Dr. Ilya Kotik, the head of the president's medical team, told a news conference.

"A lung X-ray confirmed our assumption about the development of the illness, that the right lobe of his lung is nearly unclogged."

Since the 64-year-old president nearly died after an operation in December 1996 to remove a malignant tumour and part of his Lung, doctors have been extremely careful when he has breathing problems.

Havel is expected to rest at a presidential retreat for a week once he leaves the hospital, his spokesman Ladislav Spacek added at the news conference.

A former chain smoker, Havel was hospitalised three times last year, once for a cold, once for aggravated bronchitis and once for a hernia.

In April 1998, he underwent emergency surgery on a ruptured intestine and almost died of complications when doctors operated to remove his colostomy bag three months later.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Vaclav Havel

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