CHENNAI: Legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam, who is being treated for Covid-19 in the Intensive Care Unit of MGM Healthcare Hospital, is stable and conscious, according to a statement from the city hospital on Wednesday.
In news that will come as great relief to his legions of fans, who have been praying for his recovery, the hospital told The New Indian Express that the singer even communicated with his son Charan through signs and gestures during a recent visit.
The hospital's statement added that SPB (as he is popularly known) is responsive and continues to be closely monitored by a multidisciplinary clinical team.
"Although his lung has suffered some damage due to Covid, his other organs have remained perfect from the beginning. At this point of time, we are looking at lung recovery," Dr Prashanth Rajagopalan, director of MGM Healthcare Hospital, said. "This will happen over a period of time. His family have also been counselled recently regarding his condition."
According to Dr Prashanth, when Charan met his father earlier this week, SPB managed to communicate with him through signs and gestures.
"He is conscious and awake, but he is not in a position to speak," he said, adding that there were some early signs of "success". "We are hoping everything will go well."
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In a video message on Tuesday, Charan said his father was 90 percent out of sedation. SPB was admitted to MGM Healthcare Hospital on August 5 and moved to the ICU on August 13. He was then put on ventilator and life support.
On August 19, he was put on ECMO (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) support.
'ECMO for Covid management is novel'
Dr Rajagopalan said that the use of ECMO in Covid management is a novel concept, explaining that it was helping in the recovery of another patient as well.
"We have a patient in his late 40s who was brought from Delhi to Chennai. He recovered from Covid, but his lungs were completely damaged with severe fibrosis to the extent that they cannot be revived on their own. We put him on ECMO. It has been 10 to 11 days now and he has improved a lot," he said.
Initially, the patient required 100 percent external oxygen support, but now he requires only 30 percent oxygen support, he explained. "If he recovers, it would be our first success story of the use of ECMO in Covid management."
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