PM may be out of hospital on Thursday

Prime minister Manmohan Singh has been shifted out of the intensive care unit (ICU) at the AIIMS Hospital. All his monitoring devices have been removed and he has been shifted to an adjacent room.

PM’s media advisor Deepak Sandhu on Tuesday said that Singh has been making steady progress in the post-operative period and was being supported by a team of cardiac rehabilitation and physiotherapy experts at the AIIMS Hospital. Singh is now on a regular diet of homemade meals.

“The prime minister read newspapers in the morning, and also held discussions with his aides. He enquired about the funeral arrangements being made for former president R Venkataraman,” the prime minister’s office (PMO) said.

“The PM is keen to return to work soon. And with his fast-paced recovery, the doctors are confident that he can do so shortly,” the PMO said.

Dr Vijay D’Silva, ICU specialist from the Asian Heart Institute, attending to the prime minister said, “He is making speedy recovery in the expected time frame.”

According to doctors attending to him, the 76-year-old PM, who underwent coronary bypass surgery on Saturday, could be discharged on January 30. “He will be discharged in another day or two, depending on his condition,” a doctor attending to him said on condition of anonymity.  

President Pratibha Patil visited AIIMS on Tuesday to enquire about the PM’s health. She spent 20 minutes with his family at the hospital.