Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who has been recuperating following an appendectomy at the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Centre, is likely to be discharged on Friday, a hospital source told the Post on Wednesday.

“The health of the prime minister is improving and he is most likely to be discharged on Friday," the source, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, told the Post. "Surgeon Dr Ramesh Singh Bhandari and prime minister's personal physician, Dr Dibya Sing Shah, will decide when he will be discharged.”

The prime minister was admitted to the centre on November 26 after he complained of severe stomach pain. A team led by Bhandari, which included Shah, successfully removed Oli’s appendix after a series of tests showed complications.

The source said that Oli himself has been requesting doctors involved with his treatment that he be discharged. The doctors, however, want to keep him under observation at the hospital's intensive care unit to offset any possibility of infection.

The doctors at the hospital have been allowing the prime minister to meet a limited number of people, but in a restricted manner. The restrictions also apply in his meetings with his own party leaders and Cabinet ministers.

Meanwhile, issuing a medical bulletin on Wednesday, Dr Uttam Krishna Shrestha, executive director at the Centre, said the prime minister’s health is “improving significantly” and that he has been “kept under observation”.

Oli, also released a video through his Twitter handle on Monday in which he said he is doing well after the surgery of his appendicitis.

However, a doctor familiar with the line of treatment of the prime minister, said that his health is “still delicate”, as he suffers from peritonitis, an inflammation of the peritoneum, a silk-like membrane in the inner abdominal wall following the appendix surgery.

He said that Oli has been taking immunosuppressants while he is undergoing dialysis more frequently, at least three times in the last one week alone, which indicates his renal function has either stopped or is functioning very slowly.

Oli has been taking immunosuppressants ever since he got a kidney transplant in 2007 after both his kidneys failed.

Meanwhile, another source, who also requested anonymity, told the Post that Oli's second kidney transplantation has been postponed by a few months due to peritonitis resulting from appendicitis. Doctors attending to the prime minister, including his personal physician Shah, have been preparing for his second renal transplant.

Oli’s health has been a cause for concern since August, when he flew to Singapore for a medical checkup. While information regarding his health was kept under wraps, after his return, Oli declared publicly that he was fine. But last month, his health saw a quick deterioration and he was admitted to Grande International Hospital, where he underwent four rounds of dialysis in as many days.

Since then, the doctors have been saying that the prime minister either needs regular dialysis—at least three times a week—or he needs another transplant, but as matters stand, a firm decision is yet to be arrived at.