E-Paper
Antony faints during POP at NDA
Defence Minister AK Antony faints during the Passing Out Parade at the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Khadakwasla due to exhaustion and dehydration.
Defence Minister AK Antony fainted on Saturday during the Passing Out Parade at the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Khadakwasla due to exhaustion and dehydration and had to be rushed to a military hospital.
Antony, who was admitted to the Cardio-Thoracic Centre of the Command Hospital in Pune, left for Delhi after a few hours. Doctors attending on him said work exhaustion coupled with dehydration had caused dizziness, adding the minister needed to rest for some hours.
As the 114th Passing Out Parade of the NDA neared its conclusion, 68-year-old Antony, who was standing throughout the around one-hour-long ceremony, slumped down.
Officials standing nearby rushed to his aid and a chair was also brought in for him to sit, but he insisted on standing till the parade was over and the cadets had marched out of the ground.
Antony vomitted and fainted again and was immediately carried from the dais, where he had taken the salute and addressed the cadets, by the officers to his car.
Officials said the minister insisted on going back to the dais to see the parade through, which was, however, not disrupted due to his illness and continued.
Antony then kept standing next to his car and refused to sit down till the cadets had marched out of the parade ground and trooped into the Science Block as is the tradition.
After the parade was over, Antony was taken to the military hospital in the NDA campus, where he was given liquids and subjected to a thorough health check-up.
