Hosni Mubarak's health has deteriorated since the Egyptian ex-president was sent to prison on Saturday and it is likely he will moved to a hospital outside the jail where he is being held, the state news agency reported on Wednesday.

Mubarak, 84, was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of hundreds of protesters during last year's popular uprising. He was moved to Tora prison in Cairo.

Mubarak was given artificial respiration five times in recent hours and doctors treating him recommended he be moved to a military hospital or back to the medical facility he was in prior to his conviction, security officials said.

"Official sources saw as likely the possibility of his transfer to a military hospital ... based on a medical recommendation from the doctors treating him," the state agency MENA reported.

A medical committee from the Interior Ministry visited Mubarak and concluded that he had suffered several "heart crises" and that his medical committee was deteriorating, the security sources told Reuters.

The report from the committee said that if the prison is not prepared to deal with Mubarak, then he should be transferred.

The deposed leader was suffering from nervous shock and an increase in his blood pressure, reported MENA, summarizing the findings of a medical team which examined him.

He is currently in an intensive care unit inside prison