Former PM Vajpayee better, hopeful of full recovery soon: AIIMS director

New Delhi: Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has shown significant improvement in the last 48 hours and doctors are hopeful of his full recovery in the next few days, AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria said on Wednesday.

The 93-year-old leader was admitted to the hospital on June 11. Vajpayee had come with kidney tract infection, chest congestion and his urine output was on the lower side when he was admitted, Guleria said. As his urine output was low, a slow dialysis was done, he added.

"He has shown significant improvement in the last 48 hours. His kidney function is normal and his urine output is nearly normal now. The infection is under control and the blood pressure, respiratory function and heart rate are normal. We are hopeful of his full recovery in the next few days," Guleria told reporters.

AIIMS had on Tuesday said the former prime minister was responding well to treatment. A medical bulletin on Tuesday described his condition as stable and added that he was on injectable antibiotics.

A host of political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Paty (BJP) chief Amit Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chief Vaiko have visited the ailing leader over the past two days.

The former Prime Minister of India is one of the BJP’s greatest leaders and had ruled the country for six years from 1999. He had also held the position briefly for13 days in 1996 and for 13 months in 1998. He was the first Prime Minister outside of the Congress party to complete a five-year term.

Since 2009, he has stepped away from politics and also been away from the public eye.