MUMBAI: Poet and activist Varavara Rao was shifted to a private super speciality hospital for neurological and urological medical treatment on Sunday. Dr Akash Khobragade, superintendent of Saint George Hospital, said that Rao was brought to the hospital for Covid-19 treatment.
“His health is stable, but he needed neurological and urological treatment. Therefore, he was shifted to
Nanavati hospital,” said Khobragade. The veteran activist, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, has not been keeping well for some time. His family had said that he was being held in terrible conditions at a state hospital.
A doctor at Nanavati hospital said that Rao had a head injury when he was brought to the facility. “The head injury shows that Rao must have fallen off the cot. His sodium levels are too low. We have put him on BiPAP which helps (the patient) to exhale. He has been given oxygen and admitted to an ICU ward,” the doctor said.
Rao’s health is fragile but not very critical and as such not put on ventilator, the doctor added. “We are closely monitoring his health round-the-clock. If needed, he may be kept on ventilator as well. His health is fragile. We are trying to give him the best healthcare.” Recently, the National Human Right Commission had ordered that Rao be moved to a private facility for treatment. It has also asked the Maharashtra government to submit his medical report regularly.