Former U.S. President Bush out of intensive care

Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush has been moved out of intensive care after being hospitalised with pneumonia last week, his doctors said on Monday.

The 92-year-old will remain in the hospital for much of the week, but was in good spirits.

He was taken off a breathing tube last Friday.

“He is sitting up, watching TV and waiting anxiously for his favourite oyster stew for lunch,’’ said physician Amy Mynderse.

Former first lady Barbara Bush, who had also been hospitalised, has been released, the doctors at Houston Methodist Hospital said.

Barbara Bush, 91, was also admitted Wednesday to the same hospital due to fatigue and coughing.

Bush was vice president from 1981 to1989 under President Ronald Reagan, and was elected as his successor, serving as president from 1989 to 1993, but lost his 1992 re-election bid to Bill Clinton 1993 to 2001.

George H.W. and Barbara are the parents of later U.S. president George W. Bush 2001 to 2009.

The elder Bush has been in declining health for several years and was hospitalised for several weeks in 2012.

(dpa/NAN)