Saif Ali Khan 'walked in like a lion' after stabbing, says his doctors

'He was drenched in blood but he walked in like a lion with only his small kid Taimur, aged just around six or seven…there was one more, perhaps caretaker,' said Dr Niraj Uttamani, Chief Operating Officer of Lilavati Hospital.

Mumbai: An injured and profusely bleeding Saif Ali Khan walked into the Lilavati Hospital & Research Centre “like a lion” with his small child in the wee hours of Thursday, said the team of doctors who were the first to attend to the Bollywood actor.

"I was the first one to meet Saif Ali Sahab…I met him in the first hour…when he came to the hospital. He was drenched in blood but he walked in like a lion with only his small kid Taimur, aged just around six or seven…there was one more, perhaps caretaker,” Dr Niraj Uttamani, Chief Operating Officer of Lilavati Hospital told reporters on Friday as he provided an health update on the 54-year-old actor.

“He was bleeding and walking in…like a lion…he was in pain but now showing,” he said, adding there were many wounds.

“Immediately, we took him for CT-scan. We saw a foreign body (part of the knife)…mentally he was strong…we immediately called the neuro-surgeon and plastic surgeon,” he added.

“In films being a hero is something…and in real life it is something else…Saif Ali Khan is a real hero,” said Dr Uttamani about the 10th Nawab of Pataudi.

A day after the surgery, Saif Ali Khan has been shifted from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to a special room, however, visitors have been restricted as he needs rest.

The doctor said that rushing to the hospital in an auto rickshaw was perhaps the best thing than waiting for a car. “The stab wounds were deep. The foreign body was just two millimetres away from the spinal cord,” he added.

The doctors’ team said that Saif Ali Khan is doing fine.

“"We are observing his progress and he is doing excellently well according to our expectations. As per his progress, we have advised him bedrest and if he is comfortable, then in two to three days we will discharge him," said Dr Nitin Dange, consultant neurosurgeon, who led the surgery team.

“Today when we made him walk, he was completely okay to walk. He is on a regular diet and that's why we have taken a decision to shift him from the ICU to a normal special room. He has been advised bed rest in view of the spine injury,” he added.

“His hands had two wounds. One of them was on the neck, which has been repaired via plastic surgery. I operated on his spine where the sharp object was lodged and from where the fluid was coming out. It has been repaired now,” said Dr Dange.

Asked who all were there to rush to hospital, Dr Uttamani said: "I think there was Karishma (Kapoor) Madam...two more relatives were there."