Mandela remains responsive but critical

A wellwisher places a picture outside the hospital where ailing former President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, July 11, 2013.[Photo/Agencies]

JOHANNESBURG - The ailing 94-year-old former South African president Nelson Mandela continues to respond to treatment, remaining critical but stable, said the Presidency on Thursday.

The news came as Mandela has been hospitalized for the 34th day at the Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria after being rushed there with the serious recurring lung infection on June 8.

This should be the second consecutive day for the hospitalized Mandela to improve his condition in the recent days.

On Wednesday, the Presidency announced that Mandela was responding to the treatment in hospital.

President Jacob Zuma visited Mandela in hospital on Thursday, wishing a speedy recovery for him.

On July 18, Mandela will turn 95.

On March 27, Mandela was hospitalized after doctors diagnosed him of having pneumonia.

He was also admitted in December for recurring lung infection.

Mandela suffered from tuberculosis when he was incarcerated for 27 years before the apartheid ended in 1994.

He was the first democratically-elected president in South Africa, having an honor of the state father in the country.