A file photo of S P Balasubrahmanyam.

New Delhi:

Celebrated singer S P Balasubrahmanyam is on maximum life support after his condition deteriorated in the last 24 hours, Chennai’s MGM Healthcare hospital said in a medical bulletin on Thursday. SPB, as the singer is fondly called, has been in hospital since August 5 after testing positive for COVID-19. The 74-year-old singer no longer has the coronavirus – he tested negative on September 8 – but he could not be taken off the ventilator because of the condition of his lungs, Mr Balasubrahmanyam’s son S P Charan said earlier this month.

S P Charan has been sharing health updates about his father on social media and was optimistic these last few weeks. A day ago, he wrote on Instagram that S P Balasubrahmanyam was making “steady progress” and was undergoing physiotherapy. SPB was “eager to leave the hospital as early as possible,” S P Charan wrote. Read his post here:

Some weeks ago, S P Charan announced in a video posted on Instagram: “We were expecting dad’s lungs to improve as they were but unfortunately we are still not at that point where we could rid him of the ventilator. But the good news is that dad is COVID negative.” SPB was watching cricket on the iPad as well as writing and communicating, his son said.

S P Balasubrahmanyam’s impressive body of work comprises over 40,000 songs in 16 languages. The singer, who is a winner of six National Awards, has collaborated with music composers such as Ilaiyaraaja and Oscar-winning A R Rahman. Earlier, AR Rahman shared a post on Twitter, in which he prayed for the singer’s speedy recovery. Besides being a singer, S P Balasubrahmanyam is also an actor, a producer and a voice actor. Mr Balasubrahmanyam is also a recipient of the Padma Shri as well as the Padma Bhushan.