In the end, nothing really helped. No prayers or wishes could bring back Siddique from the jaws of death. For his friends who were awaiting some good news outside the ICU at Amrita Hospital, all that was left were his memories and laughter. For the last 4 weeks, Siddique has been dithering between life and death. He was admitted to Amrita Hospital on July 10th when his liver condition worsened. He was suffering from nonalcoholic liver cirrhosis.
Doctors suggested a liver transplant. But when this was under process, he was infected by pneumonia, and it worsened his respiratory system and liver. Later he was on life support at ICU. With treatment, his condition got better, and he was shifted to the recovery ICU. A week ago, they were planning for liver transplantation surgery and his daughter was the donor.
But there was an unexpected setback when he suffered a heart attack. From Sunday night he was on a ventilator at cardiology ICU and getting treatment. But when his heart and respiratory system stopped functioning he was on ECMO life support. They were also continuing with his dialysis.
It is an equipment that temporarily aids the functioning of the heart and respiratory system and also equalizes the oxygen levels in the blood. But even ECMO couldn’t save his life. Later after getting permission from his relatives, ECMO was removed. At 9:10 pm his death was confirmed. His friends, family, and film world who expected a miracle were in for a disappointment.
Hearing the severity of his condition, various people from the film world started coming to the hospital last night. Lal, Dileep, Kalabhavan Ansar, KS Prasad, Rafi, Shahi, Lal Jose, B Unnikrishnan, Major Ravi, Siddique, Rahman, MG Sreekumar, Deepak Dev, Ousepachan Valakuzhi, Siyad Kokker, Suresh Kumar, Anto Joseph all came to see him. “He was cinema’s Oommen Chandy. He never lost his cool,” said a grieving KS Prasad.
