Hadassah Hospital director Shlomo Mor-Yosef updates the media on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's medical condition in Jerusalem January 9, 2006. (Xinhua/AFP photo)

JERUSALEM, Jan. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Director of Jerusalem Hadassah Hospital Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said on Monday that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon started breathing spontaneously minutes after a process to gradually bring him out of a medically induced coma.

    "We have started to reduce the amount of anaesthesia. In the first stage, Mr. Sharon has begun to breathe spontaneously although he is still connected to the ventilator," Mor-Yosef told reporters outside the hospital.

    This is the first sign of some sort of activity in his brain since he has been kept in sedation over the past five days, he said.

    However, he said that the prime minister's condition remains critical.

    A short while ago, doctors began the process to awaken Sharon out of coma to assess the extent of damage Sharon may suffer froma cerebral hemorrhage.  Enditem