Geelani admitted to Tata Cancer hospital

Mumbai, Mar 21 (UNI) Waiting for a visa to travel to the United States for treatment of kidney malignancy, ailing hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was today admitted to the city's Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital following deterioration in his health.

Hospital sources, while confirming it, however, declined to comment on his condition.

Mr Geelani and his son had applied for the US visa but it had been referred to the US State Department for clearance, the sources added.

Earlier, the he Chairman was given a passport valid for a year on humanitarian grounds after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervened to enable him to seek treatment abroad.

Mr Geelani, born in 1933, is reportedly suffering from a serious kidney cancer and has been advised to go abroad for the treatment that is not available in India.

Mr Geelani's left damaged kidney was removed in 2003 in the same city hospital.

He is also suffering from heart ailment and has a pace-maker for many years. Doctors in Delhi's Apollo Hospital, who diagnosed malignancy in his only kidney, reportedly suggested his treatment abroad, saying '' It is difficult to operate him here in these conditions.'' UNI