KOCHI: Actor and television anchor Rajesh Keshav was rushed to a private hospital in Kochi after he collapsed during a live event in the city on Sunday night. As per sources at the Lakeshore Hospital, the actor-presenter had suffered a cardiac arrest and was brought in half an hour after the incident.
"At present, his condition continues to remain critical since he has suffered some amount of brain damage from the cardiac arrest," said hospital sources. According to the hospital, as soon as he was brought in, the doctors managed to revive him.
"Following this, an emergency angioplasty was done. Though his heart has regained its function, he has been put on ventilator support. Since he was in cardiac arrest for half an hour, the blood supply to the brain got cut off, resulting in serious damage to the brain cells." According to the hospital communique, the next 72 hours are very vital.
"We have to see whether his brain regains its function on its own. As of now, the dosage of the medicines being administered is being gradually reduced, and we are also trying to slowly wean him off the ventilator support," said the hospital sources. Filmmaker Prathap Jayalakshmi posted on Facebook that the event where Rajesh collapsed was held at Crowne Plaza.
"We have realised that what he needs the most to come back to life is our love and prayers. The ones who used to electrify the stage with their performance now lie still, relying on machines. It's heartbreaking. But we know he will come back if we all come together and hold him in our thoughts. He must return. He will return. Please come back, my dearest buddy," he posted.
Rajesh had starred in movies like Beautiful (2011), Trivandrum Lodge (2012), Hotel California (2013), Nee-Na (2015), and Thattum Purath Achuthan (2018).