LONDON, Sept 30: British Prime Minister Tony Blair will go into hospital on Friday for a procedure to correct heart palpitations but will be fully functioning and back at work next week, his office said in a statement.
The statement said Mr Blair would, if elected, serve a full third term in power but at the end of that term, would not seek to stand for a fourth term as prime minister. Mr Blair had heart palpitations late last year and suffered a "mild recurrence" in August, the statement said. He will stay in hospital overnight, rest over the weekend and be back to work next week - a schedule that includes a trip to Africa.
"You have got to stand for the full-term," Mr Blair told television stations. "I have a deep passion to carry on the work we have done. "I've got this routine procedure on my heart which is connected with the sort of thing I had last year ... It's a minor routine procedure," he said.
"It doesn't stop me working." Mr Blair's cardiologist, Punit Ramrakha, said the procedure was like "fixing the electric wire circuit in our homes". "The recovery time is short with patients able to return to work and undertake full activities within 2-3 days," he said in a statement.
Mr Blair said of winning next year's expected election and continuing to govern: "I have the desire to do it and if I didn't, I wouldn't contemplate a third term," he said. "Of course, it is a stressful and challenging job." -Reuters
