India’s cricket board chief Sourav Ganguly, affectionately known as ‘Dada’, was discharged from hospital on Thursday, some five days after he underwent an angioplasty surgery following a mild heart attack.
Saurav left the eastern Indian city of Kolkata’s leading private hospital, Woodlands, around 10.30 am (IST), after his family members completed the necessary formalities. “He is fit and fine. His family has been briefed about the medicines he needs to take daily,” a doctor said.
The former Indian skipper’s discharge was deferred by a day as he himself had opted to extend his stay in the hospital.
The 48-year-old was rushed to the private hospital on Saturday morning, after he complained of acute chest pain and dizziness while working out at a gym. Later that day, he underwent angioplasty after three tiny blockages were detected in his coronary artery.
On Tuesday, India’s leading cardiac surgeon Devi Shetty, who flew down to Kolkata from the southern city of Bengaluru, said Saurav could run a marathon and fly a plane “as his heart is as strong as it was when he was 20”, after examining him at the hospital.
“This event will not affect his lifestyle or life span. He is going to lead a normal life like anybody else. Sourav can participate in a marathon, fly a plane, or even get back to cricket if he wants as his heart has not suffered any damage,” he had said.
During his interaction with Saurav, Dr Shetty said, he had requested the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India to influence the country’s sports bodies to ensure sportspersons go for mandatory cardiac and body check-ups at least once in two years.
“Ganguly’s event has shaken the world raising a question as to how a 48-year-old athlete like him, who does not drink, smoke, or has any other vices, is a fit man, can have a heart attack. A preventive health check-up could have prevented the event,” he told the media.
“Irrespective of how strict you are with your lifestyle, irrespective of how athletic you are, you can still have a heart attack if you do not go for a preventive heart check-up at regular intervals,” the cardiac surgeon added.
Last week, Ganguly had cleared the air about him joining politics ahead of the assembly elections in his home state of West Bengal.
Post his meeting with state Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, rumours were going the rounds that he could be India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s chief ministerial face in the assembly polls in West Bengal, currently ruled by Banerjee’s regional Trinamool Congress party.
However, Dada had told the media, “If the Governor wants to meet you, you have to meet him. So let us keep it like that.”
Considered one of the best captains in international cricket, Ganguly quit international cricket in 2008 but continued playing in the multi-billion-dollar cricketing tournament Indian Premier League for a few more years.
He scored more than 18,500 runs in Tests and one-day internationals. Last year, Dada was elected as the president of BCCI, the world’s richest cricketing body.UNB
