Mintoff suffering from pneumonia

Until now, Mintoff’s medical condition has been not been divulged by the authorities, and was only being kept within family circles.

Speaking exclusively to Illum yesterday afternoon, Rev Dionysius Mintoff, the brother of the former Labour premier, gave the family’s first reaction to the news.

“I only have one thing to say. I would like to thank everybody – all those who are showing interest in my brother at this time,” Mintoff has told Illum.

Fr Mintoff revealed that when last Thursday Dom Mintoff was hospitalised, the doctors “gave him only two days’ life left”

“They told us that we have to wait four days to see how things are developing. But on Friday his condition improved and he was fine,” Fr Mintoff added.

However, yesterday Mintoff’s condition took a turn for the worse, Illum revealed, with his senses “coming and going”

Sources closes to the family have also told Illum that among the first people who went to visit him on Thursday was former Maltese Archbishop Joseph Mercieca.

Until now, this detail had not been revealed in the media, where it was only reported that the current Maltese Archbishop Paul Cremona had visited him.

“Mintoff was healthy, and he and Archbishop Mercieca had joked very heartily,” the sources told Illum.

In the last few hours, Yana Mintoff Bland, one of two of Mintoff’s two daughters, returned from her residence in the State of Texasin the USA, and joined the family in this delicate moment.

The former Labour Prime Minister has also been given an intravenous drip.

However, typically of his independent character, when he comes to his senses, Dom Mintoff is “constantly pleading to go back home”.