On her maiden visit abroad, President Pratibha Patil is in no mood to take chances with her health. In contrast to her predecessors, she has included as many as five doctors in her entourage. Usually, no more than two doctors accompany a VVIP on such visits. While one of them has been Patil’s personal physician for many years, the odd man out is the eye specialist—also the head of the eye department at the Army Research & Referral Hospital—who performed the cataract operation on her. Though her staff was told that not much can go wrong with a cataract operation, the eye surgeon was ordered to put on hold all other engagements and travel with Patil to Latin America for the coming fortnight. Some say it’s probably a way to show her appreciation for a job well done.
