MUMBAI: Last week he was touring drought-hit districts. This week he was in hospital. On Saturday he went home.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar was discharged from Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital on Saturday, after three days of treatment for a bronchitis attack and a chest infection.
"Sharad Pawar has been discharged in a stable condition. He will continue his treatment at home," Dr Pratit Samdani, who treated him, told reporters. "He had suffered from a bronchitis attack and a chest infection, which are now improving. Given his age, a few additional instructions have been provided."
Pawar was admitted to Pune's Ruby Hall Clinic on 2 November and discharged on 4 November. He was taken to the Mumbai hospital the same day, and returned to his Silver Oak residence near it on Saturday.
The visitors came steadily. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met him in hospital on Friday. Congress leaders Sushilkumar Shinde and Balasaheb Thorat, NCP leaders Dilip Walse-Patil, Praful Patel and Chhagan Bhujbal, and industrialist Gautam Adani also visited. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called to ask after him.
The queue continued after discharge. Parth Pawar, NCP general secretary and Rajya Sabha member, met his grand-uncle. NCP (SP) state president Shashikant Shinde and former state ministers Jitendra Awhad and Anil Deshmukh also called at the residence.
This was Pawar's third hospital admission this year. He was treated for a chest infection from 9 February and discharged on 14 February, and admitted again for mild dehydration on 22 February, going home on 25 February.
This time he had cut short a tour of rural Maharashtra to assess the drought, after feeling uneasy while meeting farmers. He complained of chest pain while coughing and breathing, and was evaluated by doctors at Ruby Hall under Dr Parvez Grant.
What happens next is a matter of rest. He will continue treatment at home, with medication and the precautions his doctors have set out.