Former President A P J Abdul Kalam, a popular head of state between
2002 and 2007, died on Monday after he collapsed during a lecture in
Shillong.
The 84-year-old Kalam was rushed to Bethany Hospital in Nongrim hills
after he collapsed during the lecture in the Indian Institute of
Management at around 6.30 pm.
Chief Secretary P B O Warjiri told reporters outside the hospital
that he had spoken to Union Home Secretary L C Goyal asking for
necessary arrangements to be made for carrying Kalam's body from
Guwahati to Delhi on Tuesday morning.
"The former President has been admitted to Bethany hospital in a critical condition," M Kharkrang, SP Khasi Hills said earlier.
The former President collapsed during a lecture at the Indian
Institute of Management at around 6.30 pm and was rushed to the hospital
in Nongrim hills in the capital city of Meghalaya, where he was placed
in the Intensive Care Unit.
“He was brought to the hospital at around 7 pm without a pulse or any
other sign of life, and that efforts were made to revive him. At 7.45
pm, Dr Kalam was declared dead, he said. When asked what the cause of
death was he said, “As for the cause of death, difficult to say, but it
may have been a cardiac event.” “He is in the Intensive Care Unit. We
are examining him. We suspect that it could be cardiac arrest,” Sailo
added.
Doctors from the army hospital and North Eastern Indira Gandhi
Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences rushed to Bethany
hospital.
Governor V Shanmughanathan, Speaker Abu Taher Mondal, Home Minister
Roshan Warjiri, the Chief Secretary and DGP Rajiv Mehta rushed to the
hospital.
‘Going to Shillong.. to take course on Livable Planet earth at
iim. With @srijanpalsingh and Sharma,’ Kalam had tweeted earlier in the
day.