PM discharged from hospital

PM Manmohan Singh is seen leaving AIIMS after getting discharged. (AP)

NEW DELHI: After almost nine days in hospital, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was discharged from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on Sunday morning.

He left for his official residence, 7 Race Course Road, at 7.45 am accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur.

The PM, who will work from home, will be able to fully attend to official matters from February 22. "In the next 10 days, Singh will be allowed to get back to a routine of work in a controlled manner. On Saturday, he held a few meetings with key officials from the PMO in his room at AIIMS," a doctor told TOI.

Seventy-six-year-old Singh had undergone a coronary bypass surgery for the second time on January 24. A joint team of surgeons from Mumbai's Asian Heart Institute (AHI) and AIIMS conducted a 12-hour-long surgery on Singh to clear five arterial blockages.

Dr Ramakant Panda, an expert of redo bypass surgery from AHI, who headed the team of surgeons, returned to Mumbai on Sunday evening. He will come to Delhi on February 8 when Singh's incisions will be reviewed. That, however, will happen at his residence and Singh will not need fresh admission in hospital.

A doctors accompanying the PM told TOI, "Till the PM's surgical incisions are fully healed, only his family members and key officials will be allowed to meet him."

The PM's personal physicians — Dr Nitish Naik, Dr Ambuj Roy and Dr Sandeep Seth — will take turns to be by the PM's side constantly over the next week.

At present, Singh is undergoing cardiac rehabilitation under the guidance of AHI's Dr Ashish Contractor.

Contractor, who will stay with the PM for a couple of days to oversee his rehabilitation, is the grand nephew of left-handed opening batsman Nari Contractor.

"We have advised the PM to start attending to public duties only after February 22. He will require a minimum of four weeks to fully recuperate. In no way will he attend the early days of the Parliament session," a doctor said.

Singh is undergoing a tailor-made regimen of physical activity. He walks five times a day covering around 50 metres each time. "We are encouraging him to undertake as much physical activity as possible to regain strength. We are steadily increasing the distance and duration of his walk," a doctor said.

Singh's diet is also being supplemented with high intake of proteins and carbohydrates. "We are trying to give him an energy diet so that he recuperates faster," the doctor said.

"Over the next week, we will undertake fresh blood tests to monitor the PM's blood chemistry. Since his diet has been increased, his diabetes is constantly being monitored and kept under control. The PM will not be able to do yoga for some time and will be under physiotherapy like special breathing exercises," the doctor added.

Singh had undergone his first coronary bypass surgery in UK in 1990 and an angioplasty in 2004 at Escorts Heart Research Centre.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com