Indian doctor censures Nepal ex-crown prince’s lifestyle

KATHMANDU - The man who had saved Nepal’s crown prince Paras three years ago, when he had a heart attack, is unhappy with the lifestyle of the now deposed royal, calling it “unhealthy”.

Indian cardiologist Bharat Rawat, who carried out an emergency operation on Paras’ heart at the Norvic International Hospital in Kathmandu in 2007, remains disapproving of the controversial row in a resort last week that saw Paras arrested by police and charged with committing a public offence.

“It is not a healthy way of life,” said the former specialist with New Delhi’s Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre who had a heart-to-heart chat with Paras and his wife, the former crown princess Himani, only three weeks ago.

“He came for a check-up as he was having chest pains,” said Rawat, whose book “Healthier lifestyle and healthier heart” will be launched Saturday.

“Though I found that the chest pains were due to a cold he had contracted, he was not taking care of his health at all.”

After the operation in 2007 to widen his blocked arteries, Paras had been told to go off fats, salt, alcohol and smoking.

However, the doctor said he found the former prince flouting all dietary restrictions and having resumed smoking. Both his blood sugar and cholesterol levels are high and he does not exercise.

“He is a devoted father and the football games he has been playing with his son (Hridayendra) were wonderful for his health,” Rawat told IANS. “But he was not exercising regularly.”

He had also stopped taking the medicines he had been prescribed.

“I saw him after a long time since he had been staying in Singapore,” Rawat said. “I also found that he has not been consulting any doctor regularly in Singapore.”

For a healthy heart, besides exercising regularly and controlling one’s diet, Rawat also advocates controlling one’s temper.

“These are the basic norms of healthy living and you have to follow them to stay healthy, whether you are a commoner or a VIP,” he said.

Paras’ father, deposed king Gyanendra, is the longest living male in his lineage. Most of the Shah kings of Nepal died early, several of them due to heart diseases.