VILNIUS Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus was rushed to hospital Wednesday morning with acute appendicitis, a spokeswoman said, delaying attempts to resolve a crisis in the ruling government coalition.

"Today, in the early morning, he was brought to the hospital because of acute appendicitis and is to undergo an operation immediately," spokeswoman Violeta Gaizauskaite told AFP.

The president, 74, whose condition was not considered life threatening, was expected to need three days of treatment, she said.

The illness forced him to cancel a meeting scheduled with Prime Minister Rolandas Paksas, whose coalition government was rocked Monday by the defection of a key party.

Paksas only narrowly survived a nonbinding censure motion in Parliament Tuesday, and he signaled in a television interview later in the evening he might be ready to step down as prime minister in order to save the coalition between his center-right Liberal Union and the center-left Social Liberals/New Union.

"We call on coalition partners to review the coalition agreement," Paksas said.

"In fact we could discuss everything -- programs, posts, goals and work to be done and finally, the distribution of positions, including the post of Parliament speaker and prime minister. Everything is possible."

After months of disagreements over fiscal policy and privatization, the social liberals demanded on Monday that Paksas resign, citing his poor performance as prime minister.

The party recalled their six ministers when he refused to step down.

The social liberals have indicated they would like to continue working with the Liberal Union if Paksas resigns, however.

Adamkus had been expected to meet with Paksas, and parliamentary chairman and Social Liberal leader Arturas Palauskas at 11:00 a.m. (0900 GMT) to help mediate the crisis, but the meeting has been put off.

The president, who cut short a trip in the United States to return to Lithuania Tuesday to tackle the political crisis, already felt ill in the evening.

But before leaving for hospital Adamkus contacted both Paulauskas and Paksas and told them that they had few days to find a solution, according to Gaizauskaite.

"The president sees that present government does not exist any more. The president wants a stable coalition," she told AFP.

Asked who could form such a coalition, Gaizauskaite said the "president is for such a coalition which is possible."

The Social Liberal-Liberal Union coalition had only a narrow majority of 71 votes in the 140-member Parliament with the addition of two smaller parties.

Adamkus may favor letting the ex-communist social democrats, who came in first place in parliamentary elections last October, take a chance at forming a government with the social liberals.

The president earlier this month called for the inclusion of the social democrats, led by former president Algirdas Brazauskas, in the ruling coalition.

Analysts speculated Adamkus was seeking to sideline a potential challenge from Brazauskas for the presidency in elections next year. Brazauskas would not be expected to run if he were a serving prime minister.

The president was in the hospital for several days earlier this month to reconnect a retinal nerve in one eye.