The nine-year-old boy who was critically injured in a stampede at Sandhya Theatre on the night of December 4, when actor Allu Arjun visited the movie hall for the premiere of Pushpa 2, is showing signs of improvement, his father said, even as doctors cautioned he has a long way to go to recover. “At times, he responds. He is opening his eyes for a few seconds. This is the first time he has started responding since he was admitted,” his father Mogudampalli Bhaskar said. The boy’s mother, 39-year-old M Revathi, died in the stampede. Bhaskar said doctors told him that it would take a long time for his son to recover. Admitted in a semi-conscious condition with low oxygen saturation and irregular breathing at the KIMS hospital in Secunderabad in the early hours of December 5, the boy had slipped into a coma. Dr Chetan R Mundada and Dr Vishnu Tej Pudi, who are treating him and monitoring his progress daily, said the child continues to maintain stable vital parameters without any oxygen or ventilatory support. “His sensorium is similar to spontaneous eye opening and spontaneous limb movements but there is still no meaningful eye contact or recognition of family members. He is waking on verbal stimulus but not following any oral commands. He has intermittent dystonic movements and stiffness in his limbs for which medicines are being given. He needs intermittent suctioning of the tracheostomy tube. He is tolerating feeds via nasogastric tube well and has been febrile since the last three days,” the doctors said. When the stampede rush cleared out, the child was found unresponsive next to his mother. Police constables posted at the spot provided CPR and revived him before rushing him to Durga Bai Deshmukh hospital nearby, where he was given initial treatment. The doctors there advised the police to shift him to KIMS, where he has been admitted since. Bhaskar said that during the stampede, he and his eight-year-old daughter got separated and it was only after two-three hours that he discovered his wife had died and that his son had been shifted to KIMS by the police. “My relatives are taking care of my daughter while I spend most of my time at the hospital. For two-three days after the incident, I did not get much help, but I have received monetary support from Allu Arjun and others since then,” Bhaskar said. Meanwhile, Arjun, Pushpa 2 director Sukumar, and producers Mythri Movies have come together to give financial assistance of Rs 2 crore –Rs 1 crore from Arjun and Rs 50 lakh each from the two producers, Y Naveen and Ravi Shankar, and the director Sukumar. Arjun had earlier floated a proposal to set up a trust in the name of the boy where the contributed amount would be parked, but no decision was taken. Dil Raju and senior members of the Telugu film industry will meet Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday to share details about the financial assistance to the boy. This came after Arjun’s father, film producer Allu Arvind, Chairman of the Telangana Film Development Corporation, and film producer, V Ramana Reddy known as Dil Raju, and others met Bhaskar earlier in the day. Arjun had previously floated a proposal to set up a trust in the name of the boy where the contributed amount would be parked, but no decision was taken. Minister for Roads and Buildings and Cinematography Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said the Reddy government was bearing the entire medical expenses.
