Indian PM to have heart bypass surgery

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-23 19:42

NEW DELHI -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was hospitalized Friday and will undergo heart bypass surgery after doctors found blocked arteries, his office said.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh smiles before his meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in New Delhi December 5, 2008. Singh was hospitalized Friday and will undergo heart bypass surgery after doctors found blocked arteries, his office said. [Agencies]

The 76-year-old leader, who has a history of heart problems, will have the surgery Saturday, said Singh's spokeswoman Deepak Sandhu.

The decision to operate on Singh was made after he underwent tests earlier in the week after he complained of chest pains.

Sandhu said Singh would undergo "coronary artery bypass graft surgery" performed by a combined team of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the country's top state-run hospital, and the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai.

A decision on whether to temporarily hand power to another government official would be made later Friday, said Sandhu.

Singh has been prime minister since 2004. He had been expected to again be the Congress party's candidate for prime minister in elections that must be held before May. It was not immediately clear if his medical problems would affect those plans.

A doctor familiar with Singh's medical history said the prime minister will likely be in the hospital for 10 days and only be able to fully resume his duties after a month. The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Singh, the country's first prime minister from the Sikh faith, had bypass surgery in England in 2000 and another heart procedure in 2004.