President discharged from Army hospital

President Pranab Mukherjee was today discharged from the Army's Research and Referral hospital here following his coronary angioplasty and will be meeting Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid this evening.

Hospital sources said that the President, who turned 79 on December 11, has been discharged after he recovered fully.

Mukherjee will be meeting Hamid, who is on a six day India visit, at Rashtrapati Bhavan and will host a banquet in his honor. It is the first-ever visit by a ceremonial Head of Bangladesh to India.

The Army hospital doctors, who attended to the President and installed a coronary stent in his artery to remove a blockage in his heart, had recommended that Mukherjee should remain hospitalized for some more days.

The coronary angioplasty was necessitated as doctors detected a blockage in Mukherjee's
heart on December 13 after he was admitted there with stomach problems and related ailments.

They conducted angioplasty and installed a stent small mesh tube that is used to treat narrow or weak arteries.

Coronary angioplasty is a procedure used to open blocked or narrow coronary (heart) arteries. The procedure improves blood flow to the heart.