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Coming week critical for Ahmed Faraz

* Team of seven highly qualified Pakistani-American doctors attending on poet at Chicago hospital
* Neurologist to examine Faraz this week to determine his cerebral health

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: The coming week is critical for Ahmed Faraz, who is fighting for his life in the intensive care of a Chicago hospital since July 7.

While Faraz is still undergoing dialysis three times a week to keep his kidneys functioning, he has developed a weakness in his right arm and leg. He is conscious and aware of his surroundings, makes eye contact, recognises the few who are allowed to visit him, but does not quite manage to speak. The good signs include a strong heart and his blood pressure, which is under control. He is also breathing on his own without the aid of a respirator. A team of seven highly qualified Pakistani-American doctors is attending on him at Chicago’s Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, one of the best in the city. A neurologist will examine Faraz this week to determine his cerebral health. The poet’s son Shibli Faraz is in Chicago. Messages of goodwill keep coming in from all over.

No offer: Faraz has no health insurance but his treatment must already have cost upwards of $100,000. His doctors say that their prime object is to bring Faraz back to a condition good enough to enable him to fly back to Pakistan. The settlement of the bill is secondary at this stage but will become problematic later. There has been no signal or offer of any kind so far from the government of Pakistan to suggest that it plans to be of help in any way.

Faraz came to the United States at the invitation of Association of Physicians of Pakistani-descent of North America (APPNA), the Pakistani-American doctors’ national association, which held its annual conference in Washington earlier this month. Faraz recited his much-loved verse at a mushaira and appeared to be his usual cheerful self. The succession of mishaps that landed him in hospital began when on exiting the Canadian embassy in Washington, where he had gone to obtain a visa, he slipped and hurt his knee. He was taken to a local hospital that rendered the necessary first aid and sent him on his way. He flew to Chicago at the invitation of friends and admirers but felt extremely unwell and in great pain. His knee was found to have developed sepsis, which ultimately had to be taken care of with an operation. It was after he was admitted to the hospital for a thorough check-up and evaluation that his condition became began to worsen, as his kidneys were found to be functioning at an extremely limited capacity. That is being taken care of through tri-weekly dialysis and, it can be hoped that he may not require the procedure on a permanent basis. Right now, he is stable but critical and hanging in there. His doctors hope he can pull through, as do millions of his admirers around the world.

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