Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been discharged from the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, where he underwent a second kidney transplant last week.

Oli, who underwent the transplant on March 4, was discharged after he recovered from the surgery, said the prime minister’s personal physician Prof Dr Dibya Singh Shah.

“We have discharged him today after he fully recovered,” said Shah in a statement. “He needs to go through regular follow up checks. He will remain on continuous observation,” Shah added as the prime minister returned to Baluwatar after spending 12 days in hospital.

Shah said the prime minister can discharge his regular work with necessary precautions. Oli, who on Friday walked to his vehicle with support from a number of people, needs to rest for at least two weeks before he can get back on his feet.

Dr Singh also thanked the prime minister for trusting the team of Nepali doctors who successfully carried out the transplant. The ruling Nepal Communist Party chair waved to a large number of people, including mediapersons, before entering his vehicle.

“It may take some two weeks for the prime minister to walk properly,” Prof Dr Prem Krishna Khadga, executive director at the hospital, told the reporters. Khadga also said that the prime minister has been advised not to leave his residence for the next few months in view of a possible infection.

The prime minister’s office has made all necessary arrangements for doctors and nurses to look after him in Baluwatar. Doctors have disinfected his residence and an isolation room has been set up so that he doesn’t contract any infection.

“He will be brought to the hospital only under special circumstances,” said Khadga.

The prime minister returned to work earlier Friday by responding to a tweet by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from his hospital bed. “He has already started his work from the hospital today,” Khadga told the Post referring to the tweet.

Prime Minister Oli surprised leaders of the party secretariat on March 1 when he briefed them about his plan to get a kidney transplant for the second time at the state-owned hospital. His confidence, according to party leaders, was so high that he had told them he would return to work within a week.

Before he was admitted to the hospital, Prime Minister Oli had said he would take rest for five days and would return to work on the sixth day. However, fearing an infection, doctors had refused to discharge him until Friday.