Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been getting treated at AIIMS Delhi for the past few days after he complained of a fever and breathing difficulty. While the national leaders, including his successor Narendra Modi, have been expressing their wishes for his speedy recovery, a Union Minister has now invited controversy for his action while he visited Singh in the hospital.

According to reports, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had visited the former Prime Minister at the hospital and enquired about his health condition with the doctors. Though his presence had solaced Singh's family at this testing time, the Health Minister's action had heavily disturbed them, pushing them to express their distress. Singh's family has said that Mansukh Mandaviya had taken photos with the former Prime Minister despite they objected to it.

The family had said that Union Health Minister's photo session was against their wishes. In a statement on Friday, Manmohan Singh's daughter Daman Singh has said that the photographs were taken despite objections from her mother, Gursharan Kaur. Daman Singh stated that her family had restricted visitors due to the risk of infection as her father was battling with low immunity. However, the Union Health Minister had visited the hospital and entered the room with a photographer to take photos of him with the former Prime Minister. 

Daman Singh further said that her mother had requested that the photographer leave the room. However, her request was not heard. Daman said, "It was nice of the Health Minister to visit and express his concern. However, my parents were in no state to be photographed at this time." She added that her mother was upset over the minister's action of taking photographs when the family has been struggling with a difficult situation. 

Speaking to a news agency, Daman said, "She (Gursharan Kaur) was very upset. My parents are trying to cope in a difficult situation. They are elderly people. Not animals in a zoo." Her statement was going viral and Union Health Minister Mandaviya had drawn massive criticism from across the country with several Congress leaders slamming him for violating privacy. 

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on October 13. Singh was India's 13th Prime Minister and served the office for ten years from 2004 to 2014. Besides being a politician, he was a prominent economist. The 89-year-old octogenarian had a fever on Monday and had later recovered. However, he then had developed the flu and breathing difficulties following which he was moved to the AIIMS in the evening hours on October 13. 

He was admitted to the cardioneuro unit of the AIIMS and is under the care of a team of cardiologists led by Dr Nitish Naik, Singh's personal physician for several years. On Friday, an AIIMS official told PTI that his condition is stable and improving. Manmohan Singh's successor and incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi had wished Singh to have a speedy recovery. Taking to social media, Modi wrote, "I pray for the good health and speedy recovery of Dr Manmohan Singh Ji."