Lee Kuan Yew to leave hospital

Lee Kuan Yew to leave hospital

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Singapore patriarch Lee Kuan Yew was out of intensive care and reported to be doing well yesterday after treatment for a narrowed coronary artery.

Financial markets, which some feared would drop because Lee was in hospital, appeared unaffected.

The prime minister's office said Lee was recuperating and "generally well". The brief statement said he was expected to remain in hospital "for another day or two".

Lee, taken to hospital on Friday after complaining of chest pains while exercising, underwent a successful balloon angioplasty on Saturday to open up the narrowed coronary artery.

A cardiac surgeon told Reuters that angioplasty, in which a catheter with a balloon attached is inserted into the artery and then inflated to dilate the blocked passage, was now a fairly routine procedure.