Jharkhand education minister Jagarnath Mahto is to be discharged from a Chennai hospital on Monday afternoon three months after he underwent a transplant surgery on account of Covid-induced lung fibrosis, doctors in the Tamil Nadu capital said on Sunday.

However, the minister, who was flown to Chennai in an air ambulance from Ranchi on October 19 last year, will return to Jharkhand after spending at least a week in an accommodation in Chennai, said Dr. Suresh Rao, the Co-Director, Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Healthcare, Chennai.

“He is fit to lead a normal life and we will discharge him on Monday afternoon. But his family members have decided to keep him at a private accommodation in Chennai for a week to see how he adapts to regular day-to-day activities after staying hospitalised for several months,” said Dr Rao.

Mahto, doctors said, was fit to travel in passenger flights, but he would need to maintain social distance, wear masks and not visit crowded places even after returning to Jharkhand.

“He will have to stay cautious in order to avoid any chances of developing an infection in the surgically operated lungs,” Dr Rao said.

Mahto’s discharge from the hospital also indicates that he will attend the upcoming budget session in the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha scheduled to begin on February 26, sources from his party, the JMM, said.

While Mahto may have won his battle against the Covid-19 virus, several issues in his ministry back home have aggravated. For one, protesting para teachers in Jharkhand are waiting for a dialogue with the education minister once he returns home. Demanding regularisation of services, the 70,000-odd ad hoc teachers have been staging protests outside the residence of all ministers in the Hemant Soren cabinet.

Mahto, who was in the news for taking admission in an inter college at the age of 53, will also not be able to appear for his exams this year as he did not fill up the examination form due to his prolonged illness.

Mahto tested positive for Covid-19 on September 28 and was admitted to state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi. He was shifted to the ICU of Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Superspecialty Hospital in the state capital on October 1 and put on non-invasive ventilation.

The 54-year-old MLA from Dumri in Jharkhand, was put on a life support system called ECMO for around three weeks in Chennai before he underwent a lung transplant surgery on November 10.