“He is sinking,” the executive director and consultant cardiologist at the Norvic International Hospital Dr Bharat Rawat summed up the octogenarian´s condition. “He has never been in such a critical condition before,” Dr Rawat, who has been involved in Bhattarai´s treatment for the past few years, added.
Dr Rawat put Bhattarai´s chances of recovery at a mere 10% but said the doctors always try their best even when chances are slimmer. [break]“His heart, kidney and lungs are functioning at pretty subnormal level. Besides, his age and poor nutrition are further hampering his recovery,” Dr Rawat added. Doctors involved in his treatment said his kidneys have not been functioning well with only 110 ml urine formation since morning.
He is in a semi-comatose state with low oxygen and blood flow to the brain. “We want to avoid putting him on a ventilator as much as possible because very few patients survive after being put on a ventilator at this age,” Dr Rawat explained. Dr Rawat said that Bhattarai´s family has left the decision to use ventilator up to them but they are not sure whether it would help.
“Ventilator doesn´t solve his problems. It only increases oxygen level but doesn´t help heart and kidney,” he explained. His blood pressure was normal in the morning but fell significantly by the evening. He has not eaten anything for four days and is being fed through a tube inserted through nose into his stomach.
His attendants claimed Bhattarai was at his witty best with his trademark humor till Tuesday evening. “He had teased me saying I looked very handsome and joked with a nurse who invited him to her wedding scheduled a few days later,” Nepali Congress cadre Ram Hari Khatiwada said.
His attendants said he tried to throw away the oxygen mask on several occasions Tuesday night in an apparent sign that he may have had enough of the pain and suffering. Meanwhile, President Ram Baran Yadav visited Bhattarai at the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) of the hospital in the afternoon.
“He´s in a critical condition and didn´t even recognize me,” President Yadav told reporters after visiting Bhattarai.
Bhattarai was admitted at the hospital three weeks ago with signs of weakness, swelling of feet, and abnormal blood reports. He was shifted to the CCU on February 16.
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