The Hindu : Front Page : Antony faints during NDA passing-out parade

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Antony faints during NDA passing-out parade

— Photo: PTI

Faints, recovers: Defence Minister A.K. Antony, who fainted during a passing-out parade at the National Defence Academy in Pune on Saturday, is being taken to hospital by Army personnel. Doctors said work exhaustion coupled with dehydration caused the dizziness. The Minister left for Delhi after a few hours.

Khadakwasla (Pune): Defence Minister A. K. Antony fainted on Saturday during the passing-out-parade at the National Defence Academy (NDA) here due to exhaustion and dehydration and had to be rushed to a military hospital.

Mr. Antony, who was admitted to the Cardio-Thoracic Centre of the Command Hospital in Pune, left for Delhi after a few hours.

Doctors attending on him said work exhaustion coupled with dehydration had caused dizziness, adding the Minister needed to rest for some hours.

As the 114th passing-out-parade of the NDA neared its conclusion, the 68-year-old Antony, who was standing throughout the around one-hour-long ceremony, slumped down.

Officials standing nearby rushed to his aid and a chair was also brought in for him to sit, but he insisted on standing till the parade was over and the cadets had marched out of the ground.

Mr. Antony vomited and fainted again and was immediately carried from the dais, where he had taken the salute and addressed the cadets, by the officers to his car.

Officials said the Minister insisted on going back to the dais to see the parade through, which was, however, not disrupted due to his illness.

He then kept standing next to his car and refused to sit down till the cadets had marched out of the parade ground and trooped into the Science Block as is the tradition. After the parade was over, he was taken to the Military Hospital on the NDA campus, where he was given liquids and subjected to a thorough check-up. — PTI

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