Vajpayee showing steady progress

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,who has undergone a tracheostomy,has showed signs of recovering well and started listening to news after an aide read out the newspapers,doctors at AIIMS said.

“Today someone read out the newspaper to him. It is a daily practice. He watches TV and also spends time listening to good classical and old film music,” Dr Sampath Kumar,chief of Cardio Thoracic Vascular Sciences Department at the hospital,said.

The veteran BJP leader was admitted at AIIMS on February 3 following complaints of chest infection. He was diagnosed to have developed pneumonia and later put on ventilatory support.

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Doctors had conducted tracheostomy,a minor surgical procedure,to help him avoid infection and put him off the ventilator.

“Once we are satisfied about his recovery,we will discharge him,he said.