PM making rapid progress after bypass

NI Wire

New Delhi

Sun, 25 Jan 2009: 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spent a quite night at the AIIMS hospital after a successful beating heart bypass surgery conducted upon him Saturday. The doctors in charge of Dr. Singh said his condition is stable and making rapid progress.

The doctors are expecting a speedy recovery of the prime ministersquo;s health as the treatment so far is responding well.

He will, however, remain hospitalized for a week, and take at least another four weeks before returning to his normal schedule.

On Saturday morning, a team of 11 doctors led by senior heart surgeon Dr. Ramakant Panda under the guidance of the head of AIIMS Cardio Vascular and Thoracic Centre Sampath Kumar performed the surgery and made five bypasses around blockages inside PM’s heart.

‘The prime minister is recovering well, he talked to his family this morning,’ his office said in a statement.

Dr. Panda, vice-chairman of the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai, who was the main surgeon while addressing a press conference after an 11-hour long surgery said: ‘Dr. Singh should be able to resume some official duties in two weeks, and be fully active and functional in six weeks or even before.'

The surgery was a bit complex due to the fact that the 76-year-old leader had already undergone a bypass in 1990 and an angioplasty in 2004 with history of diabetes and blood pressure. However, medical experts choose this as a better long term option.

Emphasizing the need for the surgery, Dr. Panda said angioplasty is as good as surgery but 'surgery is a better long term option when patient has too many blockages as in case of the prime minister.