PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Former prime minister Patrick Manning has been removed from intensive care unit, less than 24 hours after he suffered a “mild stroke” that partly paralysed his right side, Health Minister Dr. Fuad Khan said Wednesday.
Khan, a specialist medical practitioner, told reporters that it would be some time before the 66-year-old legislator recovers fully from his illness.
“He will get success as he goes on,” Khan said, noting that progress had already been seen in some areas.
“The swelling in his brain is decreasing he will get success as he goes along. He has began to swallow which is a very good sign showing that his gas reflect is coming back on stream,” he said, adding that as “time goes by he will be better able to interpret what is being said to him”.
Manning suffered an embolism that causes an obstruction of an artery to the brain which results in difficulty in breathing, chest pains, fever and rapid heartbeat and eventually a stroke.
Manning was rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital on Monday night and has been “undergoing tests” at the medical institution.
Khan acknowledged that there is still a restriction on visitors to the former prime minister, who had been transferred to a high dependency unit at the hospital, south of here.
Manning, who was prime minister here on two occasions here, has been visited by a number of people including former prime minister Basdeo Panday.
Radio reports today said that St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is due to visit “his long time friend” and that he had been kept abreast of Manning’s illness since Monday. (CMC)
