Naveen To Visit Vajpayee At AIIMS-New Delhi Today

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be flying to New Delhi on Thursday afternoon to enquire about the health of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

“Vajpayeeji is very very unwell. So I am flying this afternoon to Delhi,” the Chief Minister told mediapersons here.

Reminiscing his association with the former PM, Naveen said “I’ve served as a Cabinet Minister in his government for two years. He is an exceptional leader and it was a privilege to have worked under him. To hear about his health is very distressing,” he added.

The 93-year-old veteran leader has been undergoing treatment at AIIMS for the last 9 weeks. According to the latest health bulletin by AIIMS, there has been no improvement in his health and he continues to be on life support.

Vajpayee was admitted to AIIMS on June 11 after he complained of acute chest pain. However, his condition gradually deteriorated after the failure of one of his kidneys and acute infection in the urinary tract.

The former PM has been under the supervision of renowned pulmonologist Dr Randeep Guleria, Director of AIIMS, who has served as his personal physician.

Apart from this, a team of specialist doctors of nephrology, gastroenterology and cardiology are taking care of him.

Meanwhile, several leaders cutting across party lines have been visiting him in AIIMS.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah, state and Union ministers, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani, vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu and other leaders have been to the hospital to enquire about his health in the last 20 hours.