Sonia recovering from dehydration, fever in city hospital

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi was admitted to the ICU of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital with severe dehydration and high fever on Wednesday, less than a day

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi was admitted to the ICU of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital with severe dehydration and high fever on Wednesday, less than a day after she cut short her road show in Varanasi due to ill health and rushed back to Delhi. Doctors said she was stable and improving.

HT Image

The 69-year-old spent Tuesday night at the Research & Referral (Army) Hospital, where she arrived close to midnight after a chartered plane flew her back from Uttar Pradesh. She was treated for fever, high blood pressure and electrolyte imbalance from dehydration, which causes dizziness, muscle weakness, BP fluctuations and vomiting. A fall from a dizzy spell resulted in a hairline fracture in her arm.

Doctors at R&R put her on intravenous fluids to stabilise her so she could be shifted to Ganga Ram, where she is under the care of her physician and pulmonologist Dr Arup Basu.

“She is dehydrated but stable. Investigations are being conducted. She is conscious, responding to queries and talking to her family. Her condition has improved rapidly. R&R did a good job stabilising her,” said Dr DS Rana, chairman of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

“We were told she was dehydrated and had fever and body ache, so we sent a team of specialists from medicine, cardiology and gastroenterology to Varanasi airport on Tuesday night. But she had left for Delhi by then,” said Dr OP Upadhyay, medical superintendent at Banaras Hindu University’s Sir Sunderlal Hospital.

Son Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka Vadra and son-in-law Robert Vadra, and senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel visited Gandhi at R&R. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar also called on her.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had late Tuesday offered to send doctors and a plane to Varanasi — his parliamentary constituency. Media reports said he also called up Sheila Dikshit, the Congress’ chief ministerial candidate for the UP elections early next year, to inquire about Gandhi’s health.

The Congress chief was in Varanasi to launch the party’s campaign and a huge crowd had turned up for the roadshow.