Patients' relatives pray for PM at AIIMS

As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recuperates after a successful 11-hour-long coronary by-pass surgery, relatives of the patients admitted at the Cardio Thoracic Centre (CTC) are praying for his early recovery.

Relatives of patients who are admitted to the Neuro Sciences Centre and CTC, the same facility where the Prime Minister is admitted, have kept portraits of different gods in the waiting hall praying Singh's early recovery.

"I have been at this place for the last three days as my niece is undergoing treatment for Brain Tumour. As I pray for her to the gods, I do the same for the Prime Minister," Abhishek Sharma, who hails from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, said.

As only one attendant is allowed to remain with each patient, a number of relatives are taking rest at the waiting hall.

"We have been reading in the newspaper about the preparations and the complications of the Prime Minister's health. It becomes our duty as citizens to pray for him," Shubha Rawat, relative of a patient, who has come from Yawatmal in Maharashtra, said.

The waiting hall has a capacity of 120 people and is situated next to the CTC where the Prime Minister is recuperating.

These people also lit up 'agarbatti' (incence sticks) in the morning and pray for the Prime Minister's good health along with their dear ones.

"The Prime Minister is a good man and this is evident from the fact that he is undergoing treatment at the same hospital where general public is," Alka Khatri, whose son is admitted in the Neuro Sciences Centre, said.

... contd.