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Rocard to leave hospital on Tuesday

Antara Das

Kolkata: The former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard will be discharged from a city hospital on July 10, three days later than the earlier plan, as he complained of minor pain in the left knee, doctors told a press conference here on Friday.

Mr. Rocard, who is recuperating after surgery for subdural haemorrhage, was admitted to the Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI) on June 30.

The knee pain was unrelated to his medical condition, said G.K. Prusty, consultant neurosurgeon. Mr. Rocard would undergo a CT scan before he was discharged.

An emotional Sylvie Rocard thanked the doctors, nurses and staff of the CMRI. “We are very happy and grateful that they saved him,” she said, adding “I never felt lost though I was at an unknown place.”

Mr. Rocard, who is able to walk around, is occupying himself by reading books on India. “He is a very erudite person and voracious reader who is very interested in India,” said Santanu Chatterjee, CMRI medical consul.

The Rocards might have to spend a couple of days more in the city after discharge until the former Socialist Prime Minister is declared fit to fly to Paris. “It is a rare case for a patient to undertake a nine-hour journey with two holes in the skull,” Dr. Chatterjee said.

Mr. Rocard, who was on his fourth visit to India on an invitation from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, had been unsteady and facing speech difficulties since his arrival.

He came here to attend a function organised by the West Bengal Federation of United Nations Association but had to undergo an emergency surgery to remove a blood clot between his skull and brain that affected his speech and memory.

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Rocard to leave hospital on Tuesday

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