Former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, 86, lost consciousness on Saturday and was put on life support.
Guwahati:
The health condition of former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has become “extremely critical,” said doctors who supervised his treatment in Guwahati for post-Covid complications over the past month.
The 86-year-old veteran congressional leader has been on life support for two days and his health, according to doctors, worsened even more Monday morning.
“I don’t think doctors can do much from this stage. We need a lot of people’s prayers for him,” said Assam’s Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is at the Gauhati Hospital and Medical College.
“After recovering from the coronavirus, Mr. Gogoi developed various complications. He has been on full life support machines for the past two days. This morning, his condition became extremely critical. We are only receiving some signs from his brain and a little eye movement. All other organs have stopped working. It is a multiple organ failure, “added Sarma, a former colleague of the leader of Congress.
Since Sunday night, Gogoi’s family, including his wife, son and daughter, have been in the hospital where a large number of parliamentarians, members of the Liberation Army, former ministers and senior leaders of Congress have also camped. .
Many state and national leaders from all parties have visited the hospital and called Gogoi’s son, Lok Sabha MP, Gaurav Gogoi, to inquire about his health.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi called me and asked me about his health status … People are praying everywhere and I think that is giving him strength … My father has been in the hospital for almost three months. Doctors have said that many young people do not have the kind of courage that my father has shown, “said an excited Gaurav Gogoi.
He added that the hospital authority has allowed a sound system inside the ICU to play people’s prayers and listen to some old memories like “that’s therapy too.”
On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Gogoi was “completely unconscious” after having difficulty breathing and had suffered from multi-organ dysfunction. They put him on life support machines, and doctors at the Gauhati hospital used a combination of drugs and dialysis to revive his organs.
Gogoi’s health condition had improved slightly on Sunday when he showed some positive signs such as “spontaneous eye and hand movement.” Doctors had said that he had become “semi-conscious”, but his urine output remained a cause for concern.
The Gauhati hospital superintendent, Dr. Abhijit Sarma, had said that although Mr. Gogoi was “hemodynamically stable”, the next 24 hours would be critical to his recovery.
A team of nine doctors have been monitoring Gogoi’s health in consultation with experts from India’s leading Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, who have ruled out transferring him out of state in this condition.
Tarun Gogoi had tested positive for the new coronavirus disease on August 25 and was admitted to the Gauhati Hospital and College of Medicine the next day. He had recovered from COVID-19 and was released from the hospital after two months.
Earlier this month, on November 2, he had to be readmitted due to post-Covid complications and given non-invasive ventilation until his condition deteriorated on Saturday.
In the days before he was diagnosed with COVID-19, Gogoi was at the forefront of Congress’s initiative to form a “Grand Alliance,” made up of all opposition parties for the 2021 assembly elections.
(With PTI inputs)
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