Prague - Former Czech president Vaclav Havel was released from a Prague hospital on Thursday, nearly three weeks after he was admitted with a throat inflammation.

"His condition has improved so that we can release him to home care," said Martina Pelichovska, a member of the medical team that treated the former president.

The 72-year-old playwright underwent a minor throat operation on January 12, but phlegm subsequently clogged his weakened right lung.

The resulting pneumonia threatened Havel's life and he remained in intensive care during the entire hospital stay, doctors said Thursday.

"The condition was very critical and very serious, such as never before," said Martin Holcat, the head of the team.

Havel, an icon of anti-communist resistance, lost part of his right lung in a 1996 operation to treat lung cancer and has since suffered from chronic bronchitis.

His health has deteriorated owing to years of chain smoking as well as imprisonment during the communist era.

Havel has frequently suffered from serious health problems, both during and after his 1989-2003 term as president. (dpa)