PM’s heart surgeon Ramakant Panda injured in accident

GUWAHATI - Eminent cardiac surgeon Ramakant Panda, who had last year conducted a heart surgery on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was injured in a road accident in eastern Assam’s Nagaon district Monday, officials said.

Panda was going to the Kaziranga National Park on a holiday when the car he was travelling in collided head on with a truck near Samugiri in Nagaon, 150 km from here.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told IANS that Panda was talking but had sustained head injuries. The car driver and an Assam Police official escorting the surgeon were critically wounded in the accident, which took place around 2 p.m.

Panda will be shifted to a local hospital in Nagaon and later to Guwahati.

Panda, a cardiovascular thoracic surgeon and vice chairman at Mumbai’s Asian Heart Institute, led a team of doctors who successfully conducted a heart surgery on the prime minister last year at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the nations third highest civilian honour, this year.