Former prime minister Patrick Manning, who turned 65 years old last August, has fought a series of health battles since a teenager.

His last major medical scare came in 2008, when he was diagnosed with a malignant tumour in a kidney, and went to Cuba for successful surgery.

In 1960, at the age of 14, Patrick Manning was hospitalised for five weeks with rheumatic fever.

He said the illness irreparably weakened the valves in his heath.

In 1998, Manning, who was then opposition leader, underwent surgery in Cuba to repair leaking heart valves.

In 2004, Manning returned to Cuba to have a pacemaker implanted in the right side of his chest and returned home, saying he had been given a clean bill of health by his doctors.

On December 12, 2008, Manning left suddenly for Cuba to remove a malignant tumour in the left kidney. He made the announcement during a post-Cabinet meeting.

He said then, "I have no control over these matters so I just go with the flow. I must tell you something, you know. I have no fear of death, you know. I have no fear of death and therefore I have no undue concern on this matter."

Asked then why the operation was not being done locally, Manning said, "I have been under the care of Cuban doctors for a long time and it was discovered in Havana and I have been given medical treatment at the Cimeq Hospital in Cuba for over ten years now. That's how it is."

On May 16, 2011, Manning last went to Cuba for a medical check-up.