SP Balasubrahmanyam on ventilator, ECMO support; 'stable', says hospital

Balasubrahmanyam was closely being monitored by its multidisciplinary clinical team, the hospital treating the 74-year-old musician said.

Veteran playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam, battling Covid-19, continues to be on ventilator and ECMO support and was ''stable'', MGM Healthcare said on Saturday. He was closely being monitored by its multidisciplinary clinical team, the hospital treating the 74-year-old musician said. 

Balasubrahmanyam "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 current clinical condition is stable and he continues to be closely monitored by our multidisciplinary clinical team," Baskaran said. 

The said team consists of specialists from Internal Medicine, Critical Care, Pulmonolgy, Infectious Diseases and ECMO care. It was "actively collaborating" with international experts from reputed centres in the US and UK that have "witnessed large volumes of Covid-19 patients requiring ECMO support," Baskaran said. 

"The international experts concur with the clinical care that is being provided by our expert team to Thiru SP Balasubrahmanyam," Baskaran added. 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.