Indian PM's surgery ends successfully

(January 25, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) 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 the night at 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 Prime Minister was wheeled in to the operation theatre at 0640 hours. After several preparatory measures undertaken, the surgery started at 0845 hours and concluded at 1930 hours. He was returned to the ICU at 2055 hours.

The surgery was conducted by a team of doctors drawn from both AIIMS and AHI under the overall guidance and supervision of Sampath Kumar. The surgical team included P K Dutt, Milind Ghote and S K Chowdhury.

Answering questions, Reddy said it was considered that though angioplasty was as good as surgery, in this particular situation, surgery was a better and long term option because of too many blockages.

Maintaining that it was not an emergency surgery as blood thinning drugs were withdrawn three days in advance in preparation of the operation, Reddy, however, said given the number of blockages waiting would have been inadvisable.

'In total, we went ahead and did the five by-passes. The operation went on very well. There is no problem. The only thing is that it was a second by-pass and it takes a long time,' Panda said when why the procedure took such a long time.

'We don't look at the clock,' he shot back at a questioner who said the operation could have been conducted in six hours.

'I don't know who can do it in five-six hours. At least I can tell you, I have probably the best results in the country and I don't think anybody can do a re-do, five grafts in five-six hours,' Panda said.

In all, four arteries and one veinous grafts were taken from inside the chest, left hand and left leg of Singh's body for the by-pass.

The doctors recalled that the Prime Minister had undergone graft surgery in 1990 and implating of stent in 2004. Panda said 'the Prime Minister was stable throughout the operation. There was no setback. We don't look at the clock. We did a perfect job. We have to get the Prime Minister alright,' Panda said.

He said in the first by-pass, things are very easy but in the second operation, things get sticky and that takes time so sort out.

Asked about the post-operative life, Panda said no restrictive lifestyle is needed. 'If he was working so hard when there were some blocks, now we have taken care of five blocks. He should be more active now and we expect him to be more active.'

He said the grafts will last the remaining part of his life. A questioner asked that given the fact that the Prime Minister was a tee-totaller and led a brisk life how so many blockages could occur.

Reddy replied that the Prime Minister is a long standing diabetic patient and this risk factor was a causal factor for coronary diseases.

However, Singh has not had any complications of the disesases and had never suffered a heart attack. This could be attributed to his life style and he withstood the surgery very well. - Sri Lanka Guardian