Manohar Parrikar re-admitted to Mumbai hospital; could go abroad for treatment

Manohar Parrikar

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was hospitalised again here on Monday, 11 days after being discharged following treatment for a pancreatic ailment. Maharashtra Revenue Minister and senior BJP leader Chandrakant Patil told PTI that Parrikar was re-admitted to the Lilavati hospital for the next course of his treatment. In a video message, Parrikar, 62, who flew in here from Panaji earlier in the day, appealed people to continue praying for his health. "I am thankful for all. In the last 15 days you have been praying for me and you have blessed me because of which I got well and to get fully cured I may go abroad," Parrikar said in the message. "The way you have prayed for me and blessed me, I hope to get the same thing during my treatment there. I expect that you all will allow me a leave for some days from the state for the treatment," he said.

Before leaving the Goa capital, he held a meeting with his senior ministers at his private residence in Dona Paula and formed a Cabinet advisory committee to take administrative decisions in his absence. Parrikar had also met Goa chief secretary and the director general of police, before leaving the coastal state. "Today, the chief minister is travelling to Mumbai for further medical checkup and based on the doctor's advice may travel overseas for further treatment," the chief minister's office said in a statement in the morning. He is likely to be shifted to the US for further treatment by tomorrow evening, official sources in Panaji said.

Chandrakant Patil, however, said there is no decision yet on moving Parrikar to the US. Parrikar was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital on February 15 where he received treatment for a pancreatic ailment. He was discharged on February 22, and on the same day attended a session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, where he presented the budget and made a brief speech. On February 25, Parrikar was admitted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital after he suffered mild dehydration. He was discharged from the hospital on March 1.

After being discharged from the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Parrikar had begun functioning from his home and was clearing files, official sources had said, adding that he was advised a medical check-up for which he left for Mumbai. Before leaving Goa, Parrikar met senior ministers -- Francis D'Souza of the BJP, Vijai Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party (GFP), Manohar Ajgaonkar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), and, Rohan Khaunte and Govind Gawade (both Independents). "The chief minister has formed a Cabinet advisory committee which would guide the state administration on various matters, including financial issues," Sardesai told reporters outside Parrikar's residence. The advisory committee comprises Sardesai, D'Souza and Sudin Dhavalikar of the MGP.

The MGP and the GFP are allies of the BJP-led Goa government. Parrikar would continue as the chief minister and the committee will be functioning in his absence from the state, Sardesai said. Dhavalikar could not attend the meeting with the chief minister today as he is in New Delhi, leading an all-party delegation on the issue of crisis in the mining industry. Before leaving the state, Parrikar held a meeting with chief secretary Dharmendra Sharma and personal secretary to chief minister P Krishnamurthy and gave instructions to both the officers on urgent and important matters, the CMO confirmed.

The chief minister met senior police officers, including Director General of Police Muktesh Chandar, and briefed them on certain issues. He also met officials of the state-run Waste Management Corporation and Goa State Pollution Control Board and briefed them on various issues.

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