Nation prays as PM undergoes bypass

New Delhi, Jan 24: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is undergoing a bypass surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The operation started at 0815 hrs IST. Manmohan Singh has multiple blockages in his heart, which were discovered during a routine check up. The doctors will replace the three older grafts performed on him in 1990. The operation might go on till afternoon taking five to six hours.

There are eleven doctors who are operating. The surgery will be a live heart one, where the heart continues to pump blood even as the operation is in progress. Doctors will not risk using a heart lung machine in Manmohan Singh's case.

A coronary bypass is a surgical procedure performed to relieve angina and the risk of coronary heart disease. The arteries or veins from elsewhere in the body are grafted to the arteries in the heart, which is done to bypass or clear the blockages, leading to improved blood circulation.

Manmohan's health shows a history of heart trouble. He underwent a bypass surgery in 1990 and later an angioplasty for stent implantation in 2003 and now he will undergo another bypass surgery.

"If we talk of any person having a repeat bypass surgery, yes the risks of it are higher than the first bypass surgery. On a number of counts, firstly the age is one of the factors, the patient has had a previous scar, the previous tissue... there is a fibrosis of the previous tissues," says Dr Praveen Chandra, Director cardiology, Max Hospital says.

Doctors say that an angioplasty is done when there is a tiny block in the heart. If the block is more than 75 per cent, then the patient needs to undergo a bypass surgery.

"Prime Minister's case as he has had previous grafting and the stenting would have to be done in the grafts and also because he is diabetic, it would be a better option to undergo a second bypass surgery that repeated attempts at coronary artery stenting," cardiac surgeon Dr Arun Mehra says.

"The time of recovery will be more for a diabetic person and may the problems or complications which may occur with a diabetic will be slightly more than non-diabetics," adds Dr Ashok Seth, Chairman, Escorts Heart Institute.

Keeping the age factor in mind and the Prime Minister's medical history, he is expected to be out of action for more than a month.

"Our only wish is that he has a long life so that he can serve the country," says Manmohan's brother, Surjit Singh Kohli.

"The whole nation is praying for him. This is his second bypass surgery, first was in 1990. He is our Prime Minister. Not only me the whole nation is praying," says Manmohan's sister-in-law, Manjit Kaur.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)