S P Balasubrahmanyam shared this picture. (Image courtesy: ispbofficial)

Chennai:

Celebrated singer S P Balasubrahmanyam is on life support at a private hospital in Chennai where he’s being treated for COVID-19. In a statement, MGM Healthcare, the hospital where the veteran singer has been admitted, said, “In a late night development on 13th August 2020, his condition had deteriorated and based on the advice of the expert medical team attending to him, he has been moved to the intensive Care Unit and he is on life support and his condition remains critical.” Mr Balasubrahmanyam was taken to hospital a few days ago after testing positive for the virus. He said then in a video clip that he was “perfectly alright except the cold and fever” and expected to be discharged in a day or two.

Just yesterday, the hospital had said that S P Balasubrahmanyam had been admitted for “mild symptoms of COVID continues to be stable and is maintaining normal oxygen saturation.”

According to MGM healthcare, S P Balasubrahmanyam was admitted on August 5. On the same day, in a video the musician had posted, he said, “I have good health. Nobody has to worry about this one. Please don’t bother to call me to find out how I am. I’m perfectly alright excepting the cold and the fever. Even the fever has subsided. In two days, I’ll be discharged and I’ll be home. Thanks for your concern. Lots of people are calling me. I could not attend so many calls. I’ve come here mostly to take rest so that there won’t be any disturbance to me and to take medication. Thank you for your concern. Please don’t bother calling me. I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”

The iconic singer is 74-years-old. He has sung more than 40,000 songs in 16 languages, chiefly in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindu and Malayalam. S P Balasubrahmanyam has won several National Awards and has also received the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. He’s also an actor and a producer.