“On the balance of probabilities let us go in for a surgery,” is a comment that cardiologist Dr K. Srinath Reddy remembers vividly.

The year was 2009 and the team of doctors handling Dr Manmohan Singh’s treatment, along with Dr Singh’s wife, were in the cardiac catheterisation lab in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, since opinion was divided over whether to go ahead with a surgery or a stenting procedure for Dr Singh.

Thirty seconds, that’s all it took Dr Singh to “balance the probabilities” and reply like a true economist, says Dr Reddy on the clarity of the then Prime Minister Singh’s thinking, even as as he lay with tubes inserted. Dr Reddy had weighed the risk and success rates of surgery versus stenting, and objectively presented the details to Dr Singh – who replied with no hesitation.

It was late January and Republic Day was just days away, recalls Dr Reddy, who headed the medical panel that handled Dr Singh’s health. The surgery lasted eight long hours (including preparation), and a large and anxious media contingent had descended at AIIMS. Dr Reddy had called Dr Ramakanta Panda from Mumbai’s Asian Heart Institute for the complex surgery.

Duty comes first

The following day (January 25), a discussion was on around post-surgery painkillers for Dr Singh. But Dr Singh was clear, he did not want any medication for pain. He told Dr Reddy he could tolerate any amount of pain, but did not want pain medication as he wanted his mind to be clear, recalls Dr Reddy. Soon, Republic Day was upon them, and Dr Reddy asked then Dr Singh if he wanted to watch the parade on television. The only thing the ex-PM had inquired after was if there were any “security incidents” and “if everything was safe,” says Dr Reddy, adding that’s why he wanted his mind to be clear – he was very much on duty.

Before Dr Singh went under the knife, he had made it clear that details of his medical treatment would not be concealed from the media. He asked for Dr Reddy to be the point person to communicate details to the press. After the long surgery, then health minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss asked the doctors to brief the media. Dr Panda and Dr Reddy first spoke to Dr Singh’s family and later to the press.

The top doctors were asked about the “delay” (long hours) for the surgery, when Dr Panda had replied, “When I’m saving a life, I don’t watch the clock,” recalls Dr Reddy. The other contentious query was on shipping in a doctor from Mumbai to operate on Prime Minister Singh, to which Dr Reddy replied, “This was not Mumbai Indians versus Delhi Daredevils, but Team India batting for the Prime Minister.”

This was Dr Singh’s third medical procedure. He had undergone a surgery in the UK in 1990, a stent procedure in 2003-04, and then multiple blocks in 2009.

Dr Singh was an “extraordinarily cultured man”, very polite and would see the doctors off at his residence before he moved to the Prime Minister’s official residence at what was then called Race Course Road. He was “an obedient patient”, but the only time he did not heed to medical advice, was when he was advised non-vegetarian food (protein) during his post-op recovery days, says Dr Reddy. He told Dr Reddy that his reason to stay vegetarian was his grandmother, who had told Dr Singh, “if you cannot give life, do not take life”.