Malaysia ex-PM Mahathir allowed home but still receiving hospital treatment

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who served for more than two decades in the top job, continues to undergo treatment at the National Heart Institute but has been allowed to go to his home, his office said on Friday.

Mahathir, 96, has been permitted to return home since Wednesday and go back to the hospital for physiotherapy and further treatment, his office said in a statement. He has been advised not to receive visitors, it said.

In a video message, Mahathir said he goes back to the hospital in the evenings after spending the day at home as he still has to undergo certain procedures.

“I have recovered, not fully,” Mahathir said in the video, in which he was also seen walking slowly.

Mahathir, who is still an active lawmaker, was re-admitted to hospital for treatment after undergoing an elective medical procedure on Jan. 8.

The National Heart Institute did not say at the time what procedure Mahathir, who has a history of heart problems, had undergone.

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi and Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Martin Petty)