Dalai Lama discharged from hospital after surgery

by Sanjay Jha | October 15, 2008 at 11:19 pm

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Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who underwent an operation for removal of gall stones at a hospital in Indian capital New Delhi has been discharged today from the hospital. The 73-year-old temporal head of the Tibetans was admitted to a New Delhi hospital. Walking out of the hospital, the Nobel laureate waved and smiled at a group of well-wishers who had gathered to see him, before stepping into a bullet-proof car.

Tibetan spirtual leader, the Dalai Lama, who underwent a surgery for gallbladder stone removal at a private hospital here, was discharged on Thursday morning.

"He is absolutely fit to go back home now," Dr Pradeep Chaubey, gastro- surgeon at the hospital, said.

Coming out of the hospital at 9 AM, the 73-year-old nobel laureate said, "I am extremely happy with the treatment given and I had a pleasant stay here".

More than a hundred people had gathered outside the Gangaram hospital when the Dalai Lama left in a convoy of eight cars. The spiritual leader will stay in the national capital for a few more days, sources said.

The Dalai Lama was admitted on October 9 and underwent a laproscopic surgery to remove stones from the gall bladder the next morning.

"On October 10 AM, he was operated upon and we recovered multiple stones," Chaubey said, adding the Buddhist leader responded well to the treatment.

Recalling his stay in the hospital, Chaubey said, "He is an extremely jolly person with a smile on his face and he never got tensed before the operation or after it."

"You have more wisdom than I have. I am sure you will take good care of me and I am safe in your hands. It was such a wonderful surgery that I have become too relaxed. I don't have any work, nobody to see, nobody to talk to and it was like a holiday here," the spiritual leader was quoted by Chaubey as saying.

US hospitals like John Hopkins and many others had offered treatment to the Dalai Lama but he chose to do the operation here, Chaubey said.

The Dalai Lama enjoys tremendous following all over the world and had pursued an intense campaign against human rights violation in the Tibet by China. After Chinse take over the Dalai Lama established a base in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala after fleeing Tibet in 1959 and his government in exile operate from here.