New Delhi: The condition of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat is now stable after he was admitted to AIIMS last evening with pain in his neck and back following a rough helicopter ride.
However, officials at AIIMS said that Rawat would be kept under observation for two more days.
In a statement today, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the chopper must have encountered air turbulence and, as Rawat's seat belt was not properly attached, he banged his head against the roof. The statement noted that Rawat had endured a Cervical 1 fracture and a Cervical Collar has been applied to his neck, but added that a doctor's team will decide today after an MRI whether or not he needs a surgery.
“The Minister suffered a Cervical 1 fracture... There is no opinion about a surgery right now, all he has to do is apply the Collar. He will be kept under observation for two more days,” said AIIMS spokesperson Amit Gupta.
Rawat was coming from Dehradun to Delhi last evening when his chopper ran into bad weather and had to reportedly make a sudden landing at Ved Niketan Swargashram. “I came to know about the incident last night when I was attending a function. I rushed to AIIMS (after getting the news). By the time I reached, the X-ray and CT scan (on Rawat) had been already performed.
“There was no evidence of head injury in his CT scan, but there a fracture in his C1 vertebra. When I spoke to him at night, he told me he had tied the seat belt loosely because of which his head hit the roof almost four times as the helicopter met turbulence,” Vardhan said. “We have seen the tragic death of (Gopinath) Munde-ji, who could have been saved had he worn the seat belt. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was saved because he was wearing a seat belt,” Vardhan said.
