Veteran playback singer SP Balasubrahmanyam on Saturday continued to be on life support in the Intensive Care Unit, PTI reported. “He remains stable and the doctors are closely monitoring his clinical parameters,” said a statement by Assistant Director (Medical Services) Anuradha Baskaran of MGM Healthcare in Chennai.
The veteran musician had tested positive for the coronavirus on August 5.
His son, SP Charan, said that Balasubrahmanyam was responding well to the ventilator and his lungs were functioning better. “The doctors are very confident that he will pull through,” Charan said in a video message. “It is a time consuming process. We, though, expect a recovery, it is going to be a slow recovery...Your prayers are definitely helping.”
The 74-year-old singer had shared the news of him contracting the infection in a video message on Facebook. He said he got himself tested after experiencing chest congestion along with cold and fever.
“They [the health officials] said it is a very mild case of coronavirus positive,” the singer had said. “They said you can stay at home and self quarantine and asked me to take some medications. But I didn’t want to do that with all my family members being very concerned for me. So, I got admitted to a hospital, my friends are here and taking good care of me.”
However, his condition deteriorated by August 14 and he was put on life support.
Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam prayed for the speedy recovery of the singer, reported PTI. He said he hoped the voice of his “dear brother” will be on the silver screens again. “I was saddened to know he is severely affected by the coronavirus,” he said.
Balasubrahmanyam, who has worked across Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam film industries, has won six National Film Awards for his work in the music industry. He has also been honoured with the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. Since his singing debut in 1966 with the Telugu film Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna, Balasubrahmanyam has recorded over 40,000 songs in 16 Indian languages.
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