Czech President Vaclav Havel was in "surprisingly good condition" yesterday after emergency surgery in Austria to remove part of his intestine. Mr Havel was taken out of intensive care yesterday, doctors said.
An afternoon medical bulletin said his condition remained stable after his 3 1/2-hour emergency operation on Tuesday and he was continuing to recover satisfactorily.
However, the chief surgeon at Innsbruck University Hospital, Prof Ernst Bodner, sounded a note of caution.
"The organs are functioning perfectly but the illness is of such a nature that serious complications are possible within days," he said. He added that he had removed about 12 inches of the president's intestine.
Mr Havel was taken ill while on holiday in Austria with his second wife, Dagmar. Mr Havel married Dagmar Veskrnova, an actress, in January 1997, less than a year after the death from cancer of Olga, his wife of 32 years.
The Russian President, Mr Boris Yeltsin, who has himself experienced ill health recently, sent a get-well message to Mr Havel. It said: "I am glad that the operation was successful. I want to give you my sincere moral support and wish you a quick recovery and return to active state work."
The Czech president also received messages from the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, and the Austrian Chancellor, Mr Viktor Klima. He spoke by telephone to Austrian President Thomas Klestil as well as to Czech politicians.
Mr Havel has struggled to recover from a lung cancer operation in 1996. He nearly died of pneumonia and other complications after the surgery.
Meanwhile in Prague, the Czech lower house approved membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) yesterday, paving the way for the country to become one of the first former Soviet satellites to join the western alliance.
The 200-seat Chamber of Deputies voted 154 to 38 in favour, with all except the little-reformed Communist Party and the ultra-right Republican Party backing membership.
The Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary have been invited to join NATO in 1999. All NATO countries and the applicants' own parliaments must first agree to the expansion.
A statement from Mr Havel's office quoted the president as saying the vote "made a significant mark" in Czech history.
Despite earlier ambivalence by many Czechs about joining NATO a recent poll suggested 63 per cent of potential voters were now in favour.