The vice-chairman of the Asian Heart Institute recounts the PM's surgery.
The vice-chairman of the Asian Heart Institute recounts the PM's surgery.
The PM is my model patient — I wish all my patients were like him. At 76, he is extremely fit and has kept his diabetes under control for over 10 years. He never complained of pain even once and had full faith in the doctors.
All the while he was in the hospital, he kept on asking if his presence was an inconvenience to other patients. The decision Once we explained angioplasty and bypass surgery to him, the PM took his decision in exactly 30 seconds.
He also said that he wanted to have his bypass surgery in India, and chose AIIMS as he earlier had a couple of minor surgeries there. The initial plan was to wait till Republic Day. However the PM insisted on a surgery on January 25, which was a Saturday. He said that since it was a long weekend, there would be less inconvenience to other patients.
The surgery
I will not lie, I did have my anxious moments as I was operating on a VVIP patient. But I made a conscious effort to block my mind. None of the doctors took a single break during the nine-hour long surgery. Before surgery, the PM simply told the team of doctors, “I have full faith in you.”
Post surgery, once he had recovered from the effect of anaesthesia and his breathing tube was removed, the first thing he did was thank us. The next question he asked was, “Is everything alright with the country?”
Room X, post surgery
He was in a special room at the AIIMS called ‘Room X’, which was as fully equipped as an ICU. Dr Ashish Contractor and Dr Vijay de Silva used to read the newspaper to him for the first two days. Later, he started reading newspapers on his own and also watched a bit of television. His wife, three daughters and sons-in-law were present at the hospital throughout. The moment he was off liquid diet, the entire family started having meals with the PM.
I had booked a room in a hotel, but for the first four days after surgery, I went there only to take a shower. I used to sleep in a sofa near the PM’s room in the hospital. Normally, we advise a patient undergoing redo bypass to resume work after six weeks.
However, the PM will be back in office in four. In fact, he has already started looking at his files and getting briefs from his secretaries.
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