Bangalore, July 4: George Fernandes gave doctors at a private hospital some anxious moments when he walked out after being prescribed a good night’s rest under observation.

The 79-year-old former defence minister was brought to Wockhardt Hospital in the morning after he complained of breathlessness and chest pain, and was immediately admitted. After a few mandatory tests, Fernandes was told he was all right but needed to be under observation for the night.

Hardly had the doctor finished speaking when the politician slipped off the examination table, put on his khadi kurta and walked right out of the main door.

A VIP patient without a discharge slip was the last thing the hospital wanted. A doctor was sent after him and he jumped into Fernandes’s car before it left for the governor’s residence in the heavy evening traffic. From there, Fernandes went to former chief minister J.H. Patel’s son Mahima’s residence to “discuss urgent party matters”, the doctor accompanying him all along.

Dr Ranganath Nayak, who attended on the politician, told The Telegraph the septuagenarian was suffering from mild exhaustion and that a battery of tests was conducted between 11 am and 5 pm. “The results have now arrived and everything is in order. He went out as he had an appointment with the governor. He has promised to come back.”

Zipping around the city, Fernandes had made it clear he had no intention to return to the hospital. But the doctor accompanying him, possibly used to dealing with VIP tantrums, had his way.

Even as the discharge slip was being readied at Wockhardt, the patient walked in and obliged to spend the night “under observation”.

Hospital sources said it was not the bill they were worried about but a VIP patient walking out without the mandatory discharge certificate. “We would be held responsible if anything happens,” one of them said.