Elder Bush Out Of Intensive Care, Wife Barbara Released

CHICAGO, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Jan, 2017 ) - Doctors in Houston said Monday that they were transferring former US President George H.W. Bush out of intensive care and discharge wife Barbara from the hospital.

The 41st president and former first lady were admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital on Wednesday. Doctors said George H.W. Bush could be discharged as early as Friday or the weekend. The former president, who is 92 years old, was suffering from bacterial pneumonia and was intubated during a 48-hour period to help him breathe.

He is now breathing on his own. Barbara Bush, 91, was hospitalized as a precaution, suffering from viral bronchitis. Bush physicians Amy Mynderse and Clint Doerr said at a news conference that the two were recovering well, but full recovery could take another week or two.

"X-rays continue to improve, so no obvious re-accumulation of material in his airways that would then again put him behind the eight-ball," Doerr said about the former president, adding that he will need a "fairly aggressive combination of breathing medications" and a full course of antibiotics.

Bush has Parkinson's disease, which has left him in a wheelchair, but doctors said the disease was not a major factor in this latest illness, because he is afflicted with a less-common version of the disease that only affects his lower body. His advanced age was of greater concern, they said.