Johannesburg - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the nation is praying for the quick recovery of former Israeli President Shimon Peres, 93, who suffered a major stroke on Tuesday.
In a Wednesday morning press release, Israel's Government Press Office (GPO), said Netanyahu was being updated on Peres' condition on a regular basis by the Chaim Sheba Medical Centre at Tel Hashomer in Tel Aviv.
Peres, a former Nobel Peace Laureate winner, was in serious but stable condition, his doctor said on Wednesday morning.
The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Peres's son-in-law and personal doctor, Professor Rafi Walden, as saying that Peres seemed responsive when taken out of the induced coma for a short while overnight.
"We were happy to see that when there was a short pause in the anaesthetics, we realised that he's responsive, that he's probably attentive to what we're saying to him. He shook our hand," said Walden.
"All the parameters are stable - blood pressure, heart rate, blood saturation," Waldan told reporters, adding that that gave him a "certain optimism".
Doctors intend to lower Peres's sedation later on Wednesday to test his responsiveness again, reported Haaretz.
"The chances of survival are pretty good. As for the degree of neurological recovery, nobody can say at this early stage," Walden said.
Over a seven-decade career, Peres held virtually every senior political office in Israel, including three terms as prime minister and stints as foreign and finance minister. He won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in reaching an interim peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Earlier this year, Peres was twice hospitalised for heart problems but quickly released. His office said Peres received a pacemaker last week, added Haaretz.
African News Agency