Gladwin Emmanuel (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 15, 2020)

S P Balasubrahmanyam is on life support and his condition remains critical, according to a health update released by a private hospital in Chennai where the 74-year-old playback singer was admitted on August 5 with mild Coronavirus symptoms. “There has been a setback in the health of S P Balasubrahmanyam,” the bulletin released by MGM Healthcare stated.

According to the hospital, the six time National Award-winning singer’s condition deteriorated in a late night development on Thursday and based on the advice of the expert medical team attending to him, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He is currently under observation and his haemodynamic and clinical parameters are being closely monitored.

On the day he was hospitalised, SPB had released a video on the social media, saying, “I was diagnosed with a mild case of Covid-19,” and explained that he had been down for the past couple of days with chest congestion, cold and intermittent fever. Following this, he sought the help of health professionals and was asked to go into home quarantine. But he chose to get admitted to a private hospital in Choolaimedu instead.

Assuring his fans and well-wishers that he was fine, SPB had informed that his fever had subsided and that he hoped to recover in a few days. He also requested them to refrain from calling him and enquiring about his health.

Incidentally, a few months ago, SPB, who has sung over 40,000 songs in 16 languages, had joined hands with lyricist Vairamuthu for a song on Coronavirus and the precautions to be taken to beat it.

On Friday, A R Rahman tweeted urging all the music fans to pray for the legend along with him. “He has given us so much joy with his amazing voice!” he added. Within minutes, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur replied to the maestro, saying he was praying for the great singer.