A PATIENT whose heart stopped more than 40 times in one hour after triple heart bypass surgery came around singing folk songs when he regained consciousness.

    Bekir Demirtas, 66, was rushed into surgery after he went to hospital complaining of chest pains in the city of Erzincan in northeastern Turkey.

    Doctors at the Erzincan Mengucek Gazi Research and Training Hospital found that three of his main arteries were 90 percent blocked. The pensioner was immediately rushed into surgery for a four-hour operation and then transferred to intensive care after it was completed successfully.

    He seemed to be recovering well until his heart suddenly stopped beating. Doctors performed heart massage therapy to bring him back.

    But then they realized there was a recurring problem which caused his heart to stop beating 40 times in an hour.

    Doctors opened up his chest again and massaged his heart by hand before taking him back into surgery for a second operation to have a heart pump fitted to keep it beating.

    This time, when Demirtas came around he said he felt as fit as a fiddle, thanked doctors and nurses and sang them a folk song in the intensive care unit.

    Dr. Oruc Alper Onk, who led the surgical team, said he had never seen a case like it in more than 500 operations.(SD-Agencies)