Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee may need to take another temporary break in October this year to travel to New York for eye treatment.
According to Trinamool sources, Banerjee is expected to fly to New York in mid-October for another surgery.
Consequently, he is likely to be away from day-to-day political activities for about 2 to 3 months.
It is presumed that Banerjee may not be able to spend Durga Puja in Kolkata.
Sources also said a special eye surgery called ‘Lancaster’ surgery will be performed on him at Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) to control deviation between two muscles.
Health experts and the doctors of the New York hospital advised him for an eye test once a year as his treatment is underway.
Since an October 2016 highway crash near Singur in which Abhishek critically injured his left eye, he has undergone several rounds of surgery in India and abroad.
Banerjee’s eyes were damaged particularly the left eye and this unique treatment is available only in the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
JHH is the hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.
Founded in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its School of Medicine are considered the founding institutions of modern American medicine and the birthplace of numerous famed medical traditions, including rounds, residents and house staff.
Several medical specialities were founded at the hospital, including neurosurgery by Harvey Cushing and Walter Dandy and cardiac surgery by Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
Banerjee’s left eye was damaged and there is a major deviation between the muscles of the two eyes which is the major problem.
During the last Lok Sabha elections as he was exposed to Sun rays, dust and heat, the deviation between the two muscles increased heavily.
The operation was performed on his left eye to decrease the deviation.
The doctors are not willing to carry out an operation on his left eye because the blood circulation in the eyes will be affected as operations were performed several times.
His right eye is getting affected too. The doctors will now try to correct the deviation level by loosening the muscles of the right eye.
Doctors scheduled the surgery before July 21, his party’s Martyrs’ Day rally, but he had postponed the operation so that his party workers who wanted him to attend the rally were not morally down.
After the Lok Sabha elections, Abhishek Banerjee attended the Parliament session and delivered an impressive speech on the Budget. Now, he is preparing to go to New York again. In the meantime, Banerjee has been actively conducting district-wise organisational reviews.
After speaking to his party supremo Mamata Banerjee he may announce the names of some of the district presidents and other organisational posts before going abroad in October.
On his return, he may conduct a reshuffle in the organisations at the block level.
Banerjee on June 12 had announced that he was taking a “short hiatus from the organisation due to pressing medical reasons”.
He returned to the city before July 21 to attend his party’s Martyrs’ Day rally.