Legendary actor Dilip Kumar was discharged from a hospital here on Friday, five days after he was hospitalised due to episodes of breathlessness. The 98-year-old screen icon was admitted to suburban Khar-based Hinduja Hospital, a non-COVID-19 facility, on June 6. He was diagnosed with bilateral pleural effusion -- a build-up of excess fluid between the layers of the pleura outside the lungs and underwent a successful pleural aspiration procedure on Wednesday.
"With the blessings and prayers of all of you, Dilip Sahab is going to his home from hospital. Your immense love and affection always touches the heart of Sahab, a post on the official Twitter handle of Kumar read. The tweet was shared by the cinema icon's family friend, Faisal Farooqui.
Kumar was initially supposed to be discharged on Thursday but the family and the doctors decided to let him rest in the medical facility for another day. On Wednesday, he underwent a successful pleural aspiration procedure. Dr Jalil Parkar, the chest specialist treating the screen icon, said, "A minor procedure was done on Dilip Kumar in the afternoon between 1.30-2 pm, in the presence of Dr Nitin Gokhale and myself, wherein, 350ml of pleural was aspirated. Dilip Kumar stood the procedure well. His post procedure oxygen was 100 percent.” Earlier on June 6, Dr Parkar had said "He is stable. We will take a call on removing fluids tomorrow. He might get discharged in three to four days.”
Dilip Kumar was also put on oxygen support, his family said, and was stable. "Dilip Saab is on oxygen support - not on ventilator. He is stable. Waiting for few test results to perform pleural aspiration: Dr Jalil Parkar, chest specialist treating Saab," the update on Kumar's Twitter handle read on June 7.
The Hindi cinema veteran, whose career spans over five decades with hits like Mughal-e-Azam, Devdas, Naya Daur, and Ram Aur Shyam, was admitted to the same hospital last month for a regular health check-up. Kumar's last big screen appearance was the 1998 film Qila.