BUENOS AIRES, April 21: Diego Maradona, fighting for his life after suffering severe heart and lung problems on Sunday, remained on a respirator in hospital on Wednesday, doctors said.

A statement issued by the 43-year-old Argentinian football legend's medical team said Maradona must remain under sedation "to continue to stabilise the cardiovascular function at satisfactory levels".

The bulletin said that Maradona "would be kept under respiratory assistance". It added that the bacteria which caused his pneumonia was acutely sensitive to antibiotics "meaning the treatment followed since he was hospitalised cannot be modified".

"The prognosis remains cautious," the bulletin concluded. Maradona, who has a long history of drug abuse, was admitted to the Swiss-Argentine clinic on Sunday with severe heart and breathing problems.

Maradona, whose glittering football career between 1975 and 1997 made him one of the most famous sportsmen in the world has a history of cocaine use and his weight has ballooned in recent years.

He took refuge under the eye of Fidel Castro in Cuba for some time, but his health problems appear to re-emerge each time he heads home to Buenos Aires where he is regarded as little short of a living god.

It was shortly after watching his old side Boca Juniors playing in the Argentine capital that he was taken ill and rushed to hospital where he was said to be between life and death with a severely weakened heart, badly-infected lungs and soaring blood pressure. -AFP