SP Balasubrahmanyam 'stable', says hospital

Veteran playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam, battling COVID-19 and on ventilator and ECMO support, was 'stable', the hospital treating him said on Friday.

The 74 year-old actor-singer "continues to be on ventilator and ECMO support in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)," Dr Anuradha Baskaran, Assistant Director-Medical Services, MGM Healthcare said in a bulletin.

"His condition currently is stable.Our multi-disciplinary team of medical experts is keeping a very close watch on the vital parameters and has been constantly updating Thiru S P Balasubrahmanyam's family regarding his clinical status and progress," Baskaran said.

His son SP Charan thanked all for the prayers and pointed out his father was 'stable' today though he was 'critical' on Thursday.

"But that doesn't mean he has completely recovered. What it means is there are no complications, all his vitals are working just fine and we have complete faith in the medical team and all the prayers that are coming our way. Glad he is being listed as stable," Charan said in a video message.

SPB, as the popular singer is known, was admitted to the hospital on August 5 after testing positive for coronavirus.

He was put on the ECMO support, a heart-lung assistance machine, on Wednesday, nearly a week after he suffered a setback in his health.

On Thursday, celebrities, as well as the general public across Tamil Nadu came together and prayed for his recovery.

Meanwhile, special prayers were held on Friday at the famous Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple in Kerala for the well- being of the musician.

Special "usha pooja" was held at the temple on behalf of Balasubrahmanyam, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) said.

"A musical offering was held at the temple using nadaswaram (wind instrument), thakil (percussion instrument) and Idaykka (a drum) played by TDB employees Ganesh Thiruvarppu, Sugunan and Yadukrishnan respectively.

The musicians played 'Shankara nada sareera' , a hit song sung by Balasubrahmanyam," TDB said.

Image credit: Facebook/@SPB