SAYS VISHWAJIT RANE ...
* Though Madkaikar had responded well to the surgery, it was too early to say when he would be discharged
* We’ll have to wait and see how things go, but as things stand, he is recovering and things are looking positive
* Even the Chief Minister of Maharashtra has told the doctors at Kokilaben Hospital to tend to him (Madkaikar)
* Will let the press know of any new developments as soon as there were any
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PANAJI: State Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar (53) suffered a brain stroke while in Mumbai for a visit, and was operated on, early Tuesday morning for the same at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, State Health Minister Vishwajit Rane informed.
Rane along with Dr Shivanand Bandekar, Medical Superintendent of Goa Medical College, left to visit Madkaikar in Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon at around 1:30 pm. Madkaikar will be kept under observation for 48 hours, said Rane.
Rane said that though Madkaikar had responded well to the surgery, it was too early to say when he would be discharged. “We’ll have to wait and see how things go, but as things stand, he is recovering and things are looking positive,” the state Health Minister said on Tuesday night.
“Even the Chief Minister of Maharashtra has told the doctors at Kokilaben Hospital to tend to him,” Rane added.
Rane also said that he would let the press know of any new developments as soon as there were any.
Madkaikar's hospitalization comes in the wake of an outrage in the state over the power outages on June 2nd and June 3rd, when the state capital was left without electricity as an important builder needed work to be done in the Kadamba Plateau.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier called Madkaikar from the USA to express his concern over the frequent power outages in the state, while the media has raised the issue of the people’s angst at being made to live with long hours without power and frequent power cuts.
Meanwhile, doctors attending on Madkaikar have informed that the minister was responding positively to medical treatment.
54-year-old Madkaikar was elected for the first time as MLA in 2002 on MGP ticket. Later, in 2003 he joined the BJP. In the 2007 and 2012 elections, he fought on Congress ticket and won. On December 22, 2016 he rejoined the BJP and won the 2017 election. He was also made a minister in the Parrikar-led government.
Madkaikar holds the portfolio of Power, Social Welfare and Non-conventional Energy.
