Pranab health worsens, still critical
Ex-Prez on ventilator, no improvement after surgery, says hospital
Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s health worsened Tuesday and he continues to be critical, on ventilatory support, at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi. Hospital officials said Mr Mukherjee had not shown any improvement since Monday, when he was operated upon for a clot in the brain.
“The former President, who underwent life-saving emergency surgery for brain clot on 10 August 2020, has not shown any improvement and his health status worsened. He remains on ventilatory support,” the hospital said in an evening bulletin. Mr Mukherjee was President of India from 2012 to 2017. The 84-yearold was detected with Covid-19 on Monday when he was tested prior to his surgery. Mr Mukherjee himself tweeted about his Covid status and urged those who had come in contact with him in the past one week to isolate and get tested.
The hospital said in a Tuesday morning bulletin that the former President was admitted to the hospital at Monday noon in a critical condition. “Workup at the hospital revealed a large brain clot for which he underwent emergency life-saving surgery,” it said.
A powerful orator, scholar and statesman, Mr Mukherjee was a
Congress stalwart before being elected India’s 13th President. Prior to this he had held the portfolios of finance, defence, external affairs, commerce, industry and shipping in the Congress and UPA governments. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2019.
He entered politics in 1969 when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi brought him into the Rajya Sabha, and he went on to become one of her most trusted advisers, joining her Cabinet in 1973.
Known as the “man for all seasons”, he had played a crucial role in getting the controversial India-US nuclear deal through.