MUMBAI: Actor Saif Ali Khan, who was stabbed in his spine, neck, and hands by an intruder at his home on Thursday, walked around and ate regular meals in hospital on Friday. He was moved from ICU to a special room, said doctors. Depending on his progress over the next two days, doctors may discharge Khan from the hospital on Monday.
“He is doing well and seems to be normal, but we have advised two weeks of bed rest,” said neurosurgeon Dr Nitin Dange, who operated on the actor a few hours after he walked into Lilavati Hospital, Bandra, with blood oozing from his multiple stab wounds around 3am on Thursday. Khan had a foreign body—later identified as a 3-inch knife tip—lodged near the vertebrae along the thoracic or mid-spine.
The advice for a two-week rest stems from the fact that the knife tip touched the dura—the tough membrane protecting the spinal cord— and led to leakage of spinal fluid. Lilavati Hospital COO Dr Niraj Uttamani said the knife tip missed the spinal cord by a mere 2mm.
Doctors said he had six wounds, and three were deep enough to need surgical intervention. The spinal wound was the most serious, while the two other wounds on his left wrist and right side of the neck needed plastic surgery. Given the risk of infection from the extent of spinal injury and repair, Dr Dange said he has been advised against receiving visitors for a few days. Doctors ruled out any neuro-deficits as Khan showed good recovery within a day.
“When Saif Ali Khan first came into the hospital, he was bloodied but walked in like a lion… he is a real hero,” said Dr Uttamani.
