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Sexual harassment case: Pachauri’s heart troubles worsen
Dr Rajendra K Pachauri has been diagnosed with aortic valve calcification — calcium deposit in the heart’s aortic valve that obstructs the blood flow to the rest the body — and has been advised valve-replacement surgery.
Dr Rajendra K Pachauri has been diagnosed with aortic valve calcification — calcium deposit in the heart’s aortic valve that obstructs the blood flow to the rest the body — and has been advised valve-replacement surgery.
Pachauri, 74, who quit as head of the UN’s climate panel on Wednesday following accusation of sexual harassment, is admitted at New Delhi’s Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, where he arrived with complaints of breathlessness and chest pain on Saturday evening.
An ECG (electrocardiogram) test showed changes, which indicate damage to the heart.
Dr Pachauri has had an angioplasty — a procedure where metal scaffolding is used to prop open blocked arteries — at Escorts in 2010 to unblock his right artery.
He’s been under the care of Dr Ashok Seth, chairman of cardiac sciences at Escorts Heart Institute. “The last heart check in October had recorded modest damage to the aortic valve but since Dr Pachauri didn’t have symptoms, he was just advised to take things easy,” says a doctor at Escorts, requesting anonymity.
“An echocardiogram (cardiac echo) on Tuesday confirmed the valve damage has worsened and he has been advised valve-replacement surgery,” he adds. “He has two additional 70% and 80% blockages in the right artery, but these don’t need to be treated urgently.”
Pachauri resigned on Tuesday as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and went on leave as head of Teri after a 29-year-old researcher filed an FIR against him accusing him of sustained sexual harassment through emails, texts and WhatsApp messages.
