BELGRADE, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Serbia's deputy prime minister and interior minister Ivica Dacic has been hospitalized in critical condition and placed on a ventilator due to severe bilateral pneumonia, officials said on Tuesday.
Dacic was admitted to Serbia's Clinical Center and is being treated at the Pulmonology Clinic, the interior ministry's office confirmed to state broadcaster RTS. Doctors said he was intubated and is receiving mechanical ventilation.
Spasoje Popevic, one of the physicians treating Dacic, said the minister's condition was "very serious" but slightly improved compared with the time of admission. "He is on mechanical ventilation and is receiving all necessary medications and therapy," Popevic said, adding that doctors were "fighting for his life."
According to Popevic, Dacic was hospitalized at 4:30 p.m. local time. He declined to give a prognosis, saying it was too early to assess how the situation would develop.
"The next few days will provide answers on how things will proceed," Popevic said. "We are constantly with him and doing everything possible to stabilize his condition."
According to the Serbian government's website, Dacic was born on Jan. 1, 1966, which makes him 60 years old. ■
