A surgery on comatose Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been postponed to an unknown date due to an infection found in his respiratory tract, Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital announced Tuesday.

Sharon, 78, had been scheduled to undergo a surgery at the Hadassah Hospital on Tuesday afternoon to restore a section of his skull removed in an initial emergency operation to allow access to damaged portions of his brain, said the hospital where Sharon has been treated.

The surgery will be delayed until the infection, which was discovered in a routine examination Tuesday morning, clears up.

The delayed surgery will be Sharon's eighth surgery since he was felled by a massive brain haemorrhage on Jan. 4.

The restoration of the skull was intended to prepare coma- stricken Sharon for a transfer to a long-term care facility after the brain bleeding he suffered exactly three months ago.

The decision to transfer Sharon to another facility was based on a lack of improvement in his condition, said the hospital.

After the operation, Sharon will most likely be transferred to the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, near Tel Aviv.

Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, head of the Hadassah Hospital, had said earlier that the prime minister would be taken to a rehabilitation center after last week's general elections.

Source: Xinhua