The health of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha, who is undergoing treatment in Beijing following acute myocardial infarction, is improving.

According to his secretariat, Shrestha was shifted to the general ward from the intensive care unit on Friday morning.

The deputy prime minister, in a brief video conversation, said he was feeling better, his secretariat said.

Shrestha, who is currently in Beijing to participate in the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, was hospitalised on Thursday morning after suffering from acute myocardial infarction.

“In the early morning of October 19, Narayan Kaji Shrestha presented to the emergency room of the international medical services at Peking Union Medical College Hospital with complaints of chest discomfort lasting for two hours,” the hospital said in a medical bulletin.

He was diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction and was immediately taken to the cath lab, where an emergency coronary angiography showed an occlusion [obstruction] in the obtuse marginal branch (OM) and significant stenosis in the left anterior descending artery (LAD), the hospital said.

The hospital said that a stent was promptly placed in the obtuse marginal branch, alleviating his chest pain. Shrestha is currently in a medical intensive care unit (ICU) for ongoing monitoring and treatment, said the hospital, adding, “He is fully conscious with stable vital signs.”