SENIOR Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Balaji Sadasivan had surgery last Tuesday to remove a cancerous tumour in the colon.

The 53-year-old, an MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, will be discharged from Gleneagles Hospital today and go on a month's medical leave, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Monday.

Dr Balaji's health problem came as a surprise to fellow MPs and grassroots leaders who spoke to The Straits Times on Monday.

They said he was carrying out his duties normally at the ministry and in the GRC before the surgery.

Dr Balaji had his operation on the day he returned from a three-day official trip to Dubai. He was there to promote the inaugural Global Indian Diaspora Conference, to be held here from next Thursday.

He first suspected something was wrong during the trip, said Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed, also MFA's Senior Minister of State.'Being a doctor, he said he felt that something was not right.'

But when Mr Zainul visited a recovering Dr Balaji last Thursday, he 'looked good'. 'I visited him the day after he was moved out of intensive care. He's a strong guy. He was seated on a chair... and we chatted about what happened.'

Dr Balaji, a neurosurgeon, gave up his private practice at Gleneagles in 2001 when he joined politics and became an MP in Ang Mo Kio GRC.

He has held various portfolios since his appointment as Minister of State after the General Election.

In 2004, he was promoted to Senior Minister of State and, in 2006, swopped the Health portfolio for that of MFA, while continuing to hold the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica) portfolio.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.