Soumitra on several life support systems, need a miracle, says doctor

Legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who was admitted to Kolkata's Belle Vue Clinic on October 6, is " grave and really critical", the doctor in charge of the actor's medical treatment at Kolkata's Belle Vue Clinic said on Saturday.

 In a 9 pm medical bulletin Dr Arindam Kar said that the actor "is not responding to treatment. Even miracles may fall short in this situation. "Main problem encephalopathy which has undone everything the doctors tried."

Soumitra Chatterjee's family has been kept informed and "they are in grief," said the doctor, reports NDTV.

In the 4:30 pm medical bulletin, Dr Kar had said, "The 40 day fight has not been enough. We need a miracle now."

Mr Soumitra Chatterjee is 85 and has had to be put on life support. He is barely conscious. His condition which was described at critical but stable for several days deteriorated sharply soon after he underwent tracheostomy and plasmapheresis earlier this week.

The veteran actor was admitted to the hospital on October 6, just a day after he tested positive for COVID-19. The actor tested negative a little after a week on October 14 but he remained admitted because of health complications, especially COVID-19 induced encephalopathy.

Within a few days after Chatterjee tested negative, the doctors said he was recovering and would be able to walk in a few days. However on October 25, Dr Arindam Kar, who is leading the medical team treating Mr Chatterjee, said: "You all know he is not keeping well. His consciousness, despite all our efforts, is not improving. Rather it has gone down."

Since the last week of October, Chatterjee was undergoing dialysis on alternate days, which "managed to stabilize some of his parameters."

In fact, early November, his consciousness which had dipped to 9 on 15 in the Glasgow Coma Scale went up to 11. Earlier this week, doctors conducted tracheostomy to give him "airway protection" and plasmapheresis to address problems, including encephalopathy.

His condition was reported to be stable after these procedures but deteriorated on Friday and further on Saturday.

Soumitra Chatterjee, Bengal's most celebrated actor, is best-known for his many collaborations with filmmaker Satyajit Ray - they made 14 movies together.

 Soumitra Chatterjee was also directed by other Bengali cinematic greats, including Mrinal Sen in Akash Kusum.His last big screen outing was 2019's Sanjhbati.

Soumitra Chatterjee's extensive list of awards and honours includes the Padma Bhushan and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Ratna. He received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award - India's top film honour - in 2012.

Chatterjee was the winner of three National Awards for his performances in the films Antardhan, Dekha and Padokkhep. In 2018, he received the Legion of Honour by France, the country's top civilian award. In 1989, Satyajit Ray had also received the same award.