Doctors who treated former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh say that he was very polite and followed all medical advice seriously.
Dr. Srinath Reddy, who was the chairman of the Prime Minister’s medical panel, recalled, “Soon after becoming the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh himself arranged a small table for tea at his Safdarjung Lane residence instead of asking the domestic helpers. So that we can drink tea comfortably.
Recalling Manmohan Singh, Dr. Reddy said that this was just a few days before Dr. Singh shifted to the Prime Minister’s official residence at 7 Race Course Road (now Lokkalyan Marg), which was being prepared at that time. .
Singh, who was Prime Minister twice between 2004 and 2014, died on Thursday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. He was 92 years old. His last rites were performed on Saturday.
Dr. Reddy, former head of the cardiology department at Delhi-based AIIMS, knew Manmohan Singh since 2004. Dr. Reddy remembers him as someone who always followed medical advice.
“When doctors explained their reasoning, he never objected to his advice,” said the founding president of the Public Health Foundation of India.
Dr Reddy, who served as personal physician to former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, said he could not become Manmohan Singh’s personal physician despite a request from the Prime Minister’s Office in 2004 because by then he had become the head of the cardiology department at Delhi AIIMS. Had finished.
However, he recommended the names of Dr Nitish Naik and Dr Ambuj Roy, “very competent and conscientious” cardiologists from the leading hospital, as Manmohan Singh’s personal physician and alternative physician.
Despite this, due to Dr. Reddy’s experience of the Prime Minister’s healthcare system since Rao’s time, a medical panel was formed under him, comprising Dr. Naik, Dr. Roy and the head of the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at AIIMS. Dr. Nikhil Tandon was a member.
She looked after the health needs of Manmohan Singh officially during his tenure as Prime Minister for ten years (2004–14) and thereafter unofficially till his last days. Dr. Reddy said, “He was a very humble and gentle person. Whenever we went to meet him at his residence, he used to drop us to the car.”
He said that when Singh had to undergo coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) again in January 2009, the former Prime Minister insisted that he get the treatment done at AIIMS Delhi only and not in any hospital abroad.
At that time, there was a difference of opinion among doctors on whether Manmohan Singh should undergo repeat angioplasty or bypass surgery. Singh’s first CABG was done in Britain in 1990.
“He was in the cath lab when I explained to him the advantages and disadvantages of both the treatments,” said Dr Reddy. I clearly remember that he took 30 seconds and then said…let’s go to the surgery. His thinking was very clear.
He recalled that the incident took place a few days before the Republic Day celebrations and his courage was unusual for the Prime Minister. Dr Reddy said, “Any Prime Minister would wait for the function to be over and would not want to be seen as ill in front of the people. But he accepted the medical advice and made an informed decision very quickly. He had a lot of confidence in us.”
Former AIIMS director and pulmonologist Dr. Randeep Guleria, who had the opportunity to meet Manmohan Singh several times, described him as a “disciplined, soft-spoken, practical and obedient patient, who followed medical instructions diligently.”
Dr Jeevan Titial, head of the RP Center at Delhi AIIMS, had performed cataract surgery on both eyes of Singh in 2008. He remembered Singh as a polite man who used to follow up regularly after the operation. “He had no ego and followed medical advice carefully,” he said. He was curious, but he had complete trust in the doctors.
