Jharkhand education minister Jagarnath Mahto, who resumed work two months ago after undergoing a lung transplant surgery in Chennai after a prolonged bout of Covid, was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Medanta Hospital in Ranchi on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday following complaints of nausea, discomfort and diarrhoea, sources from the hospital said.

However, doctors treating Mahto at Medanta said that the minister was moved to a non-ICU bed later on Saturday after his condition appeared to be stable.

“He was kept in the ICU at night as a precautionary measure since he is a patient of organ transplant. The minister is stable now and will be discharged once we conduct all necessary tests and rule out the chances of any major complication,” said Dr Madan Mohan Pandey, medical superintendent of Medanta Hospital.

One of the five doctors treating Mahto in the hospital said that his lungs were functioning fine and there was no reason to worry. The doctor said that an SoP is followed for treatment of any patient who has a history of lung transplant and certain tests have to be conducted as per the rules.

Mahto returned to Jharkhand in a chartered flight on June 14 under the supervision of a team of doctors from the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS). He was quick to resume work and attend assembly sessions soon after his return to Ranchi.

The 54-year-old MLA from Dumri, who tested positive for Covid-19 on September 28 last year, underwent treatment in different hospitals over a period of several months. Soon after testing positive, he was admitted to state-run RIMS in Ranchi. On October 1, 2020, he was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Superspecialty Hospital in the state capital and put on non-invasive ventilation. However, his condition deteriorated further and he had to be flown to Chennai in an air ambulance on October 19.

He was put on a life support system called Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) for around three weeks at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Healthcare in Chennai before he underwent a lung transplant surgery on November 10.

Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais sought details about Mahto’s health from doctors on Saturday and wished him a speedy recovery. Chief Minister Hemant Soren also took updates on Mahto’s condition over phone from New Delhi after learning about the development, sources said.