MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 26: In October, the Prime Minister's Office will shift from Delhi for a few days. Hundreds of miles away, Mumbai is getting ready to receive the PM and his office.The entire seventh floor in the new wing of Breach Candy Hospital is undergoing a complete revamp to accommodate the PMO. The PMO will function out the hospital and later from Raj Bhavan during Atal Behari Vajpayee's stay here for his knee-replacement surgery. The surgery has been scheduled for October 10.The floor will house eight rooms with one each for the PM and his relatives. Other rooms will have round-the-clock monitoring station, life-saving equipment and the PMO which will be used to carry out the official business of the country. Though official intimation is yet to reach the hospital, the authorities are going ahead with the preparations.Union Health Minister C P Thakur spoke to the hospital's medical director K G Nair and told him to expect the PM. ``Thakur spoke to me. Besides, a high-level team of SPG officials from New Delhi also visited the hospital today,'' Nair told The Indian Express.``We will create a special mini Intensive Care Unit on the seventh floor. In addition, the arrangement for food for Vajpayee as well as his staff will also be made on the same floor,'' he said. Security on the hospital premises, and particularly on the seventh floor, will be very tight. ``Only authorised persons will be allowed on this floor,'' Dr Nair added.The surgical equipment will be brought by Chittaranjan Ranawat, the US-based orthopaedic surgeon who will operate on the PM; the hospital will provide nursing care and medical attention. Vajpayee is expected on October 8. He will take six days to recover after which the physiotherapy exercises will begin. Ranawat has been conducting similar surgeries at the hospital for years now.Nair admitted that the security arrangements might adversely affect the hospital's other patients. To minimise the inconvenience, a separate entrance has been constructed for the seventh floor as per the SPG guidelines.The bill? Nair says: ``There is no question of recovering any charges for the surgery. He is the Prime Minister.'' Ranawat will be backed by a team comprising Nandu Laud, former professor of orthopaedic surgery, Sion Hospital; F E Udwadia, chief physician of Breach Candy Hospital, Manchanda, personal physician of the PM and an anaesthetist from the United States. Laud spoke to Ranawat on Monday night to get instructions for arrangements. Ranawat will arrive in Mumbai on October 8 or 9 and plans to be here for three-four days, Laud said.Explaining the surgical procedure, Laud said the entire joint, consisting of the knee cap, thigh bone and shin bone has to be replaced by an ``artificial joint'', which will be brought by Ranawat from the US.Post-surgery, the patient starts showing improvement from the next day and can walk without pain, he said. ``With the artificial joint, the patient can easily walk up to 1.5 kms,'' he said. In 98 per cent of the cases, the artificial joint lasts up to 15 years.During Vajpayee's stay of over two weeks in Mumbai, a PMO will be set up in the Raj Bhavan as well. ``All arrangements are being made by Raj Bhavan to ensure that essential work of the PMO is not affected. Top bureaucrats from the PMO will be camping at Raj Bhavan during the period,'' a senior official said.
