Fears about the health of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama eased yesterday after Indian doctors examining the Nobel peace laureate for stomach pains said he was in "absolutely normal" condition.
"We undertook further medical examinations this morning, like blood tests on a fasting stomach. He's absolutely normal," Prakash Mhatre, operations director at the Leelavati Hospital and Research Center in Mumbai said.
A statement issued by the Dalai Lama's office in New Delhi said the spiritual leader had been suffering from a bowel infection which was now "under control."
The Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetans, was flown by private plane on Sunday to Mumbai from Patna in eastern India after complaining of stomach pains.
The Dalai Lama had been in the eastern town of Bodhgaya near Patna to deliver a sermon at a Buddhist festival, said to be one of the world's biggest Buddhist gatherings, attended by some 200,000 people.
His illness forced the cancellation of the Kalchakra, or Wheel of Time, festival at the monastery-studded town of Bodhgaya.
The Dalai Lama appeared briefly at the festival last week, waving and smiling to followers. He told them he would be unable to sustain the rituals which required him to sit still for at least five hours.
Mhatre said a team of doctors would give the the 66-year-old Dalai Lama another checkup later yesterday and the results would be announced afterwards.
Since the start of antibiotics treatment, "some visible improvement has already been confirmed [and] further improvement is expected", the statement by the Dalai Lama's office said.
RSS