India’s Singh ‘Conscious, Stable’ After Heart Surgery (Update1)

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is “conscious and stable” after undergoing a 10-hour operation on his heart, easing concerns about his health as the nation prepares for national elections that must be held before May.

“He’s conscious, responding and very stable,” K. Srinath Reddy, head of the panel of doctors treating Singh, told reporters in New Delhi today. Singh will spend the next eight days at the city’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, where he’s currently recovering in intensive care after heart bypass surgery, cardiologist R.K. Panda said.

The 76-year-old will be fully fit in six weeks, Reddy said, just in time for his party’s poll preparations and as the government strengthens security following last November’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, in which 164 people died. Singh replaced the home minister after the assault and established a new federal agency to coordinate counter terrorism.

“The Congress party would have banked upon him to sell their successes,” N.R. Bhanumurthy, an economist at the Institute for Economic Growth in New Delhi, said before the operation. “The prime minister’s absence will definitely have some impact.” MORE...