The Solomon Islands government says the Finance Minister and former prime minister Bartholomew Ulufa'alu has been admitted to a clinic in the capital Honiara suffering kidney failure.
Mr Ulufa'alu was deposed as prime minister in the 2000 coup but is now in the new government of the prime minister who took over from him after the coup, Manasseh Sogavare.
A diabetic and now in his fifties, Mr Ulufa'alu has been ill for weeks and in 2003 spent time at a hospital in Sydney.
The Special Secretary to the Prime Minister, Sam Alasia, says Mr Ulufa'alu's condition has stabilised and improved.
Reports say if Mr Ulufa'alu cannot continue as an MP, a by-election would be called in his electorate of Aoke/Langalanga in Malaita Province.
