Former president’s Soeharto’s condition has improved and he has a good chance of recovering, his doctor said Saturday.“We’re optimistic,” presidential doctor Marjo Subiandono told reporters during a briefing Saturday.
The 86-year-old has been in the hospital for more than two weeks, suffering from multiple organ failure, pneumonia and sepsis, a potentially lethal blood infection. He received dialysis for failing kidneys and a blood transfusion. Doctors said privately he had been near death.
The former leader is still attached to a ventilator, but his heart and lung capacity have improved, and his sepsis is also receding, Subiandono said.
“Most of his sepsis symptoms have gone,” said hematologist Harryanto Reksodiputro.
His white blood cell count is still high, Reksodiputro said, but his clinical condition is “good.”
Soeharto is conscious and able to respond to his doctors, said Dr. Christian Johannes, another member of Soeharto’s medical team.
Doctors will continue their efforts to reduce Soeharto’s dependency on the ventilator.
If Soeharto continues to improve over the next 24 hours, it is possible he will no longer be in critical condition, Subiandono said