PM to undergo cardiac surgery in AIIMS tomorrow

New Delhi, Jan 24 : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will undergo a heart bypass surgery tomorrow for which he was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) today. "Dr Manmohan Singh will undergo coronary artery bypass graft surgery on January 24 at AIIMS," PMO Spokesperson Deepak Sandhu said.

In view of the fact that Singh, 76, will be undergoing the surgery and would be taking rest two to three weeks, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to officiate in his absence.

"In the absence of Singh, Mukherjee presides over the Cabinet meetings," a senior Congress leader said adding what was informal earlier will become formal.

At the AICC briefing, spokesman Manish Tewari said that in the absence of the Prime Minister, there is a procedure laid down on how the affairs of the government will be carried out.

Heart bypass, which the Prime Minister had undergone 18 years ago in London, involves grafting of arteries of veins from elsewhere in the patient's body to the coronary arteries to bypass atherosclerotic narrowings and improve the blood supply to the coronary circulation supplying the heart muscle.

A PMO statement said the surgery would be performed by a team of doctors drawn from AIIMS and the Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai.

They would be backed by a team of doctors and technical staff drawn from other departments of AIIMS. Singh, who complained of chest pain, was admitted to the AIIMS on Wednesday and discharged yesterday morning after undergoing coronary angiography and a series of other tests. According to hospital sources, some blockages have been detected in his heart vessels in the tests conducted on Wednesday.

The surgery on the 76-year-old Prime Minister would be performed by a team of doctors drawn from AIIMS and the Asian Heart Institute (AHI), Mumbai, Sandhu said.

The team conducting the surgery would be supported by doctors and technical staff drawn from other departments of AIIMS, she said. The surgical team from AHI will include Rama Kant Panda, cardiac surgeon, Vijay Desilva, ICU specialist, and Narendra Garach, anesthetist, hospital sources said.

"The team has brought about 20 boxes of special equipment with it. Earlier, Dr K S Reddy (the PM's personal physician) had discussions with Dr Panda in connection with the line of treatment to be followed," they said.

Indications that Mukherjee, the senior most member in the Cabinet after the Prime Minister, would be asked to officiate came early in the morning when he called on Congress President Sonia Gandhi and discussed matters against the backdrop of Prime Minister's hospitalisation.

Mukherjee, who is also Leader of the Lok Sabha, heads a number of Group of Ministers (GoMs) and had presided over Cabinet meetings in the absence Prime Minister earlier too.