PM likely to be discharged on Saturday

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is recuperating after a coronary by-pass surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, would be discharged on Saturday 'if everything goes right', a senior doctor attending on him said on Friday.

"He would be discharged on Saturday afternoon if everything goes right till that time or we might consider extending it (his stay) to Sunday," said Dr Vijay D'Silva of the Mumbai-based Asian Heart Institute.

D'Silva, who is an Intensive Care Unit specialist, said a decision to extend the PM's stay in the hospital would be taken by the team of doctors led by his personal physician Dr K S Reddy and AHI surgeon Dr Ramakant Panda.

Though there were reports suggesting that the 76-year-old leader may be discharged even earlier, doctors felt he needed some more observation, hospital sources said.

Dr D'Silva said that the prime minister started his day by reading newspapers, followed by some basic exercises and a walk in the corridor, after which he had his breakfast.

The prime minister, who underwent a complex coronary bypass surgery at AIIMS on January 24, was moved out of the ICU on January 28 and all his monitoring devices have been removed.