LK Advani Admitted to Delhi Hospital with Chest Infection

Former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, 98, was admitted to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi on Friday evening. Doctors say he is stable.

On Friday evening, 16 October 2026, former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani was admitted to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi. He is 98. Hospital officials said he had a chest infection and was brought in at about about 7.30 on Friday evening. He was admitted to the pulmonary department, the unit that treats the lungs, and is under observation by a team of doctors. Tests were under way. Officials said his condition was stable and that he was receiving treatment. The news was still the update on Saturday morning. No hospital bulletin has described the infection as life-threatening, and none has given a discharge date. He is in hospital and his condition is stable.

Why it matters

Advani is the senior-most living figure of the Bharatiya Janata Party's first generation in power. He was deputy prime minister and a builder of the party that now governs. At 98, a chest infection is treated seriously because age makes the lungs slower to clear. Stable means doctors are not reporting a deterioration. It does not mean he is ready to go home. He was last admitted to the same hospital in May this year for age-related problems, and he went home after a few days. In December 2024 he was in the intensive care unit of Indraprastha Apollo for tests and treatment, under the care of a neurologist, and the hospital then said he was stable. On 17 December 2024 the hospital said he had improved and was likely to leave intensive care within a day or two. Families of patients his age watch the word stable, and they also watch whether the next bulletin moves him to intensive care or towards the door. A pulmonary ward is where oxygen, antibiotics and monitoring are close at hand. For a patient of 98, that is the cautious place to be while tests come back. Friends in politics will want a visitor's slot. The doctors' bulletin is the only update that changes the medical picture.

Key facts

• Lal Krishna Advani, 98, was admitted to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital at about 7.30 pm on 16 October 2026.

• Hospital officials said the cause was a chest infection and that he is in the pulmonary department.

• They said his condition is stable, that tests are under way, and that a team of doctors is observing him.

• He was admitted to the same hospital in May 2026 for age-related problems and discharged after a few days.

• In December 2024 he was in intensive care at the same hospital and was later reported to be improving.

• No discharge date has been announced.

What's next

The next bulletin is the one that matters. It will say whether the infection is responding, whether he needs intensive care, or whether he can leave. Until then, stable is the only medical fact the hospital has put on the record. Party colleagues will visit. The treatment itself is a lung infection in a 98-year-old, watched by the same hospital that treated him in May and in December 2024. Until a doctor signs that bulletin, rumours about a move to intensive care are only rumours. The hospital has said stable, and that is the sentence to hold.