Amitabh taken to hospital

Published October 12, 2008

MUMBAI, Oct 11: Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, who turned 66 on Saturday, was undergoing medical tests after complaining of abdominal cramps, a hospital spokesman said, as fans feared for his health.

“He has stomach pain and is undergoing tests,” Mohan Rajan, from Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital, said. He described the actor’s condition as ‘stable’ but could not confirm one report that he had an incisional hernia.

“We are giving him the best possible treatment. We understand the importance of Mr Bachchan and his value to the nation,” he added.

Bachchan, who has superstar status in India, left his home in the northern Mumbai suburb of Juhu with his actor son, Abhishek, and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai, in an ambulance at lunchtime, a photojournalist said.

Huge crowds that had gathered outside his house to wish him happy birthday anxiously watched him leave, television pictures showed.

Bachchan, wearing a brown-coloured woollen cap and blue ensemble, was spotted lying down inside the vehicle before being supported by Abhishek and another man as he walked into Nanavati Hospital, the photographer said.

The film star’s secretary, Sunil Doshi, told the Times Now television channel that Bachchan “developed some kind of stomach cramp” overnight, was taken for a CT scan and other tests and was now under observation.

Bachchan was later transferred to the Lilavati Hospital where he previously spent three weeks, including one in intensive care, after bowel surgery in November 2005.—AFP

Opinion

Editorial

Ultimate price
Updated 02 Nov, 2024

Ultimate price

To dismantle culture of impunity for crimes against journalists, state must ensure that perpetrators do not go unpunished.
Mastung bombing
02 Nov, 2024

Mastung bombing

INSTABILITY continues to haunt Balochistan, as Friday morning’s bombing in Mastung has shown. At least nine...
Plane speak
02 Nov, 2024

Plane speak

DESPITE all its efforts to facilitate PIA’s privatisation, it seems the government only ended up being taken for a...
Seeking investment
Updated 01 Nov, 2024

Seeking investment

Foreign visits will be fruitless unless crucial structural, policy reforms directly affecting investors are focused.
State-backed terror
01 Nov, 2024

State-backed terror

OVER the past year or so, India’s reportedly malign activities in foreign countries have increasingly come under the radar, with
Shared crisis
01 Nov, 2024

Shared crisis

WITH Lahore experiencing unprecedented levels of smog, the Punjab government has announced a series of “green...