Bernard Chan may scale down public duties after heart operation
But Exco member won't quit all public roles despite undergoing heart surgery - and insists he never considered running for chief executive
Executive Council member Bernard Chan says he will consider scaling back his work with NGOs after undergoing heart surgery on Monday - and ruled out a run for chief executive in 2017.
But the Asia Financial Holdings president stressed that he was not ruling out taking up other public posts.
Chan's high profile and strong communications skills have seen him tipped by some Beijing loyalists as a possible contender in 2017, due to be the first time the public votes for the city's leader. But an e-mail to friends on Tuesday, in which Chan revealed he underwent angioplasty and had been "very close to a heart attack", led to speculation he would give up politics.
However, Chan told the South China Morning Post yesterday that his health would not immediately affect his work, which also includes serving as a deputy to the National People's Congress.
"I have faced health problems in the last 30 years, and I have medical checks every three months," Chan said, referring to his diagnosis with Takayasu's disease, a rare, incurable disorder which causes inflammation of the blood vessels.
The latest health scare was unrelated, he said.
"It just surprised me that [my condition] seemed to have worsened [in recent months]," he added. Only on Saturday did he discover one of the three major arteries in his heart was 90 per cent obstructed and surgery was needed. In angioplasty, stents are inserted to widen narrow or obstructed arteries.