New Delhi, Dec 28 (PTI) “Dr Manmohan Singh, soon after becoming the prime minister, had himself carried a small table for us to have tea comfortably at his Safdarjung Lane residence instead of asking his house help,” Dr Srinath Reddy, who was the chairperson of the PM’s medical panel, recalled.
This was just days before Dr Singh moved to the 7 Race Course Road, the PM’s official residence, which was then being readied, said Dr Reddy, as he remembered the erudite yet remarkably humble man who shepherded India into an era of economic liberalisation.
Dr Singh, who was the prime minister for two terms between 2004 and 2014 died on Thursday at AIIMS, Delhi at the age of 92. His mortal remains were consigned to flames at the Nigam Bodh Ghat here on Saturday amid the chanting of religious hymns. The funeral pyre was lit by his eldest daughter Upinder Singh.
Dr Reddy, the former head of the Department of Cardiology at AIIMS, Delhi, who had known Dr Singh since 2004 remembered him as a polite patient who would always follow medical advice.
“As long as doctors could explain their reasoning he never contested their advice,” the founding president of the Public Health Foundation of India said.
Dr Reddy, who had served as the personal physician of former PM Narasimha Rao, said he could not become the personal physician of Dr Singh in 2004, despite a request from the prime minister’s office, since he had by then become the head of the department of Cardiology at the Delhi AIIMS.
He, however, recommended names of “very competent and conscientious” cardiologists Dr Nitish Naik and Dr Ambuj Roy from the premier hospital to be Dr Singh’s personal physician and alternate physician.
Owing to Dr Reddy’s experience of the system of the PM’s healthcare since Rao’s time, a medical panel was constituted, nonetheless, under him with Dr Naik, Dr Roy, and Dr Nikhil Tandon, Head of the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the AIIMS as members.
They took care of Dr Singh’s health needs officially during the ten years (2004-14) of his tenure as PM and unofficially thereafter till his last days.
“He was a remarkably cultured person and an epitome of courtesy. He would see us off to the car whenever we visited him at his residence,” Dr Reddy said.
He recounted that in January 2009 when he had to undergo a repeat coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), Dr Singh insisted that he would get the procedure done at AIIMS Delhi and not at medical facilities abroad.
At that time, doctors were divided on whether he should undergo repeat angioplasties or a repeat bypass surgery.
His first CABG was done in the UK in 1990.
“He was in the cath lab when I explained to him the pros and cons of both procedures. I vividly remember that he took 30 seconds and remarked ‘on the balance of probabilities. Let us go in for surgery.’ “He spoke like an economist as he was. He had such clarity of mind!” Dr Reddy said.
He recalled that the incident was just a few days before the Republic Day celebrations and his pluck was unusual for a PM.
“Any PM would have waited for the celebrations to get over and would not have wanted to be seen in the public as ill. But he accepted the medical opinion and made an informed decision very quickly. He had such immense faith in us,” Dr Reddy said.
Former AIIMS Director and pulmonologist Dr Randeep Guleria who had the opportunity of attending to Dr Singh quite a few times described him as a “disciplined, soft spoken, down to earth and an obedient patient who would follow medical instructions diligently.”
Dr Jeevan Titiyal, Chief of RP Centre at the Delhi AIIMS, who performed cataract surgeries on both his eyes in 2008, remembered Dr Singh as a cordial and humble man who was regular with his postoperative follow-ups.
“He had no arrogance and was a very obedient patient. He was inquisitive but had full faith in physicians,” he said.
