Prime Minister Manmohan Singh underwent a bypass heart surgery on Saturday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. The PM had been complaining of a chest pain over the past few days, and the tests have confirmed cardiac blockages. A beating heart operation, which carries a lower risk of tissue damage, will be performed on the Prime Minister, following which he will need rest for a week before getting back to work.
The decision was taken early on Friday morning after doctors told Singh to not to wait for the Republic Day function. The surgery was performed by a team of doctors from the AIIMS and Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai. The Prime Minister will need rest for three or four weeks. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will take over Finance Ministry and preside over Cabinet meetings in the interim period. An internal order on Pranab Mukherjee’s expanded duties is ready.
PTI adds: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi but parried questions whether he would officiate as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to undergo cardiac surgery on Saturday.
“These are normal routine things. I met Congress president and I had discussions with her on certain other matters too and I am going to meet the Prime Minister,” Mukherjee told reporters after his meeting with Gandhi.
Again asked whether he will officiate if the Prime Minister remains in hospital, Mukherjee said “these are theoretical propositions. We do not know how long it would take or what would happen. This is normal, Government is there,” he said.
Mukherjee said he was going to meet the Prime Minister because he was going for treatment and when he was abroad, Singh was in hospital.
“These are quite natural things. You should not be unnecessarily worried over and coming here in large numbers,” he said.
Asked whether there would be any change in the Republic Day celebrations, in which the Prime Minister also takes part, the PMO sources said, “whoever is officiating would be there”.