24 Jan :Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday underwent a successful coronary by-pass surgery in which five grafts were done to overcome multiple blockages to heart in an operation that lasted for a little over eleven hours.
"He is conscious, responding and is very stable. He would be more active now than before the five grafts," Dr Ramakant Panda, a specialist in re-do by-pass flown in from Mumbai’s Asian Heart Institute who performed the surgery leading a team of doctors, told a press conference in New Delhi.
Dr K S Reddy, the Prime Minister’s personal physician, said they expected the Prime Minister to attend to some of the official duties after two weeks, most of his official duties after four weeks and be fully active and functional by six weeks or even before. "He will be more active now".One reason why the Prime Minister opted for an immediate surgery was he wanted to be ready and fully active well before the elections, Dr Sampath Kumar, Head of the Cardio Vascular Department at the AIIMS said.
Replying to a question, Dr Panda said that there was no setback on the operation table and since it was a second by-pass, the surgery took so long. There were no complications.
The Prime Minister will be in the ICU for three days and spend a total of seven to eight days in the hospital.Describing Singh as a "tranquil, calm and composed" person, Reddy said the Prime Minister told the doctors before he was wheeled in "I am ready".
The coronary artery bypass surgery included replacement of older grafts performed on the Prime Minister in 1990 in the UK, doctors said.
"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was wheeled into the operation theatre in the AIIMS at 5:30 AM. The operation finally began at 7:15 AM," Dr Vaishnav said.
"The entire country is rejoicing because our Prime Minister has come out successfully from the operation. We must thank the surgeons, the team of doctors and all those who have extended excellent help," Congress spokesperson Veerappa Moily said.
An 11-member team from the AHI led by Dr Ramakant Panda performed the beating-heart operation on 76-year-old Dr Singh, who had been complaining of fatigue and signs of chest pain in recent days owing to blockages.
Meanwhile, People from all walks of life have joined special prayers offered in religious places across the country for the speedy recovery of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Prominent leaders, including Chief Ministers also wished for early recovery of Dr Singh.
Beating-heart bypass surgery: The beating-heart bypass surgery that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh underwent on Saturday is considered the safest for elderly patients who have had a bypass surgery earlier and also have other ailments, say cardiologists.
In an open-chest, beating-heart bypass procedure, surgeons, make an incision through the breastbone to access the heart, which is not stopped during the surgery.
The doctor does not use a heart-lung machine to stop the heart as done in the conventional bypass surgery. Also known as the ‘off-pump’ approach, it uses special devices to stabilize the part of the heart the surgeon is operating on.
According to cardiologists, surgeons weigh several factors, such as the location of blocked arteries, the patient’s history of past thoracic surgeries and the presence of other ailments before deciding on this surgery.
"The heart continues to beat and circulate blood to heart muscles during the operation. A surgery on a beating heart helps reduce the risk for complications in temporarily stopping the heart during the procedure," said Ashok Seth, senior cardiologist at the Delhi-based Max Heart and Vascular Institute.
Cardiologist K.K. Aggarwal added: "Blood usage is brought down to near zero and there is no damage to the brain, heart or lungs as would happen in the conventional surgery. The recovery from this surgery is very quick."
PM undergoes coronary bypass surgery at AIIMS
24 : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is on Saturday undergoing a complex heart bypass surgery in a premier hospital in New Delhi, had a successful first graft and two similar procedures were to be performed.
The first graft has been successfully performed on the Prime Minister at 3.10 PM in AIIMS, Sudhir Vaishnav, cardio-vascular thoracic surgeon with the Asian Heart Institute (ASI), Mumbai, said nearly eight hours after the operation began this morning.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was wheeled into the operation theatre at 5:30 AM.The operation finally began at 7:15 AM, Vaishnav told the news agency.
He said an 11-member team from the ASI led by Dr Ramakant Panda was performing the operation on the 76-year-old leader at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.
The team comprises three more doctors and the rest are support staff. Heart bypass, which the Prime Minister had undergone 18 years ago in London, involves grafting of veins or arteries 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.
Six years ago, Singh had also undergone an angioplasty.
Pranab to officiate till Manmohan returns to work With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set to undergo heart surgery on Saturday to remove cardiac blockages, Congress sources indicated that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will officiate in his absence.
"In the absence of Singh, Mukherjee presides over the Cabinet meetings," a senior party leader said in New Delhi after the Prime Minister was admitted to AIIMS, adding what was an informal arrangement was now being made 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.
To a volley of questions as to who will look after the work of the Prime Minister, Tewari said that it will be "extremely unnecessary" to speculate on this.
"We will wait for the official statement from the Government of India," the spokesman said.
"When the Prime Minister is away or travelling, the procedure is put in place…," Tewari said, adding that at this time, the "top most priority was to see the PM back on feet and work".
He said, "he Congress fervently hopes that he (Singh) returns to work after the line of treatment prescribed by the doctors as early as possible."
Party sources said that it was only about presiding over the Cabinet meetings when the announcement of date of elections is hardly three weeks away.
A senior party leader said that this was perhaps the first time in independent India that the Prime Minister would not be able to attend the Republic Day parade.