Rajnikant flies to Singapore for further treatment

He was taken from the Sri Ramachandra Medical Center (SRMC) hospital, from  where he was discharged in the evening, in an ambulance to the Meenambakkam airport.

He rightaway boarded the flight to Singapore. Rajnikant’s daughter Soundarya said he   was alright and was being taken for further treartment.

Amid all-round anxiety that his kidney problem was persisting, as the 60-year-old actor was put on dialysis for at least five times in the past one week, sources say that his family was keen to take to him to Singapore quickly.

His family had given up the earlier plan to take him to London for further tests and treatment for his kidney ailment, as Singapore with equally good medical facilities is just four hours away from Chennai.

Change and relaxation
However, hospital sources were tightlipped about the development. All that SRMC would say was, “Rajnikant has scheduled his trip abroad for a change and relaxation and incidentally to go in for selective check-ups.”

He was discharged in the evening from Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre, the sources confirmed. The doctors are saying very little about the actor’s health, leading to all sorts of speculation.

Initially, the SRMC doctors maintained that even a normal kidney patient can be put on dialysis as an interventionist therapy to quickly remove the toxins from his/her system. But what intrigues observers is why more dialysis was given to the actor.

Rajnikant, after initial treatment at the private St Isabella Hospital here and subsequent discharge was admitted again at the SRMC hospital on May 13, with “acute symptoms of breathlessness and fever”.

“He (Rajnikant) is cheerful, taking his food himself, ambulant (moving around) and spending time with the family,” the SRMC hospital statement said.

For the past few days he has been in good spirits watching television, the statement added.

It was in April-end, on the first day of shooting his latest film ‘Rana’ that Rajnikant fell ill and was initially admitted to St Isabella hospital.

The actor recovered and even now his overall health is quite fine. He was moved into the ICU for a couple of days when his breathing problem became acute.

This is notwithstanding some of his bio-chemical parameters like potassium levels shooting up and thereby affecting the functioning of his kidney.

This in turn is believed to have led to a drop in the haemoglobin levels in the blood, sources said. But doctors are keeping mum, even as thousands of his fans and well-wishers are praying that Rajnikant should get well quickly and be back on the sets of ‘Rana’ at the earliest.