Lee Kuan Yew discharged from hospital

Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew has been discharged from hospital after being confined due to an irregular heartbeat, the government said today.

A statement from the office of his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said the 89-year-old former leader was resting at home.

“The doctors are following up with him to optimise his anti-coagulation therapy, in order to minimise the risk of further transient ischaemic attacks,” it said.

A transient ischaemic attack occurs when blood flow to a part of the brain stops briefly and a person who suffers from this will display stroke-like symptoms which could clear in a day, according to an earlier statement.

The elder Lee was confined at the Singapore General Hospital on Friday. The latest statement did not say when he was discharged.

Lee Kuan Yew (left), who retired from the cabinet in 2011 but remains a member of parliament, is widely credited with transforming Singapore from an economic backwater to one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies.

He served as prime minister from 1959, when Singapore gained self-rule from colonial ruler Britain, until he stepped down in 1990 in favour of his deputy Goh Chok Tong, who in turn handed power to Lee’s son in 2004.

In November 2011, his physician daughter Lee Wei Ling revealed that the former prime minister was suffering from a neurological disease that makes it difficult for him to walk steadily.

Lee, a longtime fitness buff, has visibly slowed since his wife of 63 years Kwa Geok Choo died in 2010.

- AFP