Kolkata: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly suffered a "mild" heart attack and is undergoing "primary angioplasty" at a city hospital, doctors said.
The 48-year-old cricket icon is stable.
"He had an acute myocardial infarction (MI) but is stable now. He is stable haemodynamically and has received loading doses of dual anti platelets and statin.
"Mr Ganguly is undergoing primary angioplasty now. We are yet to decide on how many stent insertion is required for Mr Ganguly," a doctor at Woodlands Hospital said.
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to a part of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle.
According to an earlier account attributed to a doctor at the same hospital, he had suffered a cardiac arrest. A sudden cardiac arrest is when the heart malfunctions and stops beating unexpectedly.
A heart attack is a circulation problem and sudden cardiac arrest is caused due to an "electrical" issue.
Primary angioplasty, also called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), is a procedure which treats blockages within the coronary arteries and improves blood flow to the heart.
The doctors at the hospital said Ganguly felt chest discomfort while doing treadmill at his home gymnasium.
He has a family history of Ischemic Heart Disease, a condition of recurring chest pain or discomfort that occurs when a part of the heart does not receive enough blood. This condition occurs most often during exertion or excitement, when the heart requires greater blood flow.
A team of five doctors has been constituted to supervise his treatment, hospital sources said.
"When he was brought to the hospital this afternoon his clinical parameters were within normal limits. ECG and Echo were also done. He is responding to well to treatment," a statement released by the hospital said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed concern over Ganguly's hospitalisation.
"Sad to hear that Sourav Ganguly suffered a mild cardiac arrest and has been admitted to hospital. Wishing him a speedy and full recovery. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family," Mamata tweeted.
The development came at a time when speculations were rife about his joining politics ahead of the state assembly elections likely in April-May this year.
According to political circles in the state, the former batting great could join the BJP, but Ganguly himself never made his intentions quite clear about taking the political plunge.
Ganguly was officially entrusted with the task of heading Indian cricket in October 2019 at the BCCI's General Body meeting in Mumbai, ending a controversial 33-month reign of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA).
He became the BCCI's 39th president succeeding C K Khanna, who was the interim head of the Board since 2017.
Ganguly's tenure was for nine months but he and Board secretary Jay Shah have continued nonetheless as the Supreme Court has still not ruled on the BCCI's plea seeking amendments to its new constitution, which put a cap on the age and tenure of office-bearers as recommended by the Lodha Committee.
Ganguly had earlier held positions in the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). He began as joint secretary at the CAB in 2014
