LAS VEGAS: United States Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders underwent emergency surgery after suffering a heart attack.
His campaign has confirmed saying that the senator was taken to hospital on Tuesday after complaining of chest pain at a campaign event in Nevada.
Doctors operated on Sanders, 78, to remove a blockage in one of his arteries. Sanders said he was feeling “great” after leaving hospital on Friday.
His doctors said “two stents were placed in a blocked coronary artery in a timely fashion”. The doctors, Arturo Marchand and Arjun Gururaj, said Sanders’s other arteries were normal.
On Friday, Sanders was discharged from Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas. The doctors said that Sanders has made good progress, but has been advised to follow up with his personal physician.
In an upbeat statement, Sanders said: “After taking a short time off, I look forward to getting back to work.” Later on Friday, he told followers he was “feeling so much better” in a video filmed outside hospital.
Hello everybody! We’re in Las Vegas. I’m feeling so much better.
Thank you for all of the love and warm wishes that you sent me.
See you soon on the campaign trail. pic.twitter.com/nk3wWIAuE7
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 5, 2019
The Democratic presidential contest is in full swing, and Sanders has vowed to take part in the next live televised Democratic National Committee debate on October 15.
As the oldest candidate in the field, Mr Sanders may face questions from his rivals about his fitness to challenge US President Donald Trump for the White House in 2020.
Sanders would become the oldest ever US president, should he win the 2020 election. Sanders will be 79 when the presidential election takes place on 3 November 2020,
He is the longest-serving independent in congressional history. He ran for the Democratic nomination in 2016, and was Hillary Clinton’s closest rival.
