intensive care unit last night.

He had earlier been released from the hospital and placed on a heart transplant waiting list.

Last night he was believed to have priority for the next available heart. A spokeswoman at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre confirmed Mr. Ming had been re-admitted to the hospital, where he has been having tests.

The 45-year-old father of three had been expecting to get his new heart later this year.

"Over the weekend Cal had some problems with his breathing, so they took him back to the hospital,'' said Mrs. Althea Overbey, a colleague at the National Alcohol and Drugs Agency.

"He's going to remain in intensive care until they find a heart, and he's been upgraded on the transplant list.'' Mrs. Overbey, NADA's community co-ordinator, said a fund-raising campaign was planned to be launched in a couple of weeks, to raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed for Mr. Ming's operation.

Organisers were hoping to have a telethon, she said.

Mr. Ming was accepted on a donors list at the Pittsburgh Presbyterian hospital, part of the university medical centre.

His wife Juanita has been in the US for the past three weeks while her husband has been undergoing tests. The couple have been staying at an apartment near the hospital.

Earlier this week Mr. Ming wrote to The Royal Gazette to say he has heard the results and is now on the donors list.

"I came out of hospital and received the consultant team's decision to accept me on the list for a heart transplant,'' he said.

"Dr. Murali is director of the evaluation team who put me through 10 days of extensive testing. I cannot tell you how accommodating and caring this hospital was to me.

"Now I have to stay here and wait for a donor. That is the hard part for me, but I'll be visiting the hospital for weekly check-ups, and so it seems that I will be here for at least the next nine months.

"This group of hospitals makes for an incredibly large complex, employing over 10,000 persons.'' Mr. Ming is an executive officer of the NADA, now amalgamated with the new National Drugs Strategy Team.

He discovered four years ago he was suffering from a mystery breakdown of his heart muscles, idiopathic ventricular cardiomyopathy.

The condition, believed to be caused by a virus, severely sapped his energy.

Although extremely expensive, a heart transplant is the only medical course open to him.

Once the operation is over, he will spend several months recuperating in the States.

Mr. Ming thanked the people of Bermuda for their support and prayers. He said: "It is humbling for me to think of how the community has been so supportive.''