Sadhguru undergoes emergency brain surgery, recovering

New Delhi: Spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev underwent an emergency brain surgery at a private hospital here, a statement from the hospital said on Wednesday.

The surgery was carried out on March 17 to remove bleeding in the skull. Sadhguru was weaned off the ventilator post-surgery, the statement from Indraprastha Apollo Hospital said, adding he has shown “steady progress and his brain, body and vital parameters have improved”.

The 66-year-old spiritual guru is the founder of the Isha Foundation and has launched campaigns like ‘Save Soil’ and ‘Rally for Rivers’ for environment conservation.

He had been suffering from severe headaches for the last four weeks. Despite the severity of the pain, he continued with his normal daily schedule and social activities and even conducted the Maha Shivaratri function on March 8, the statement said.

The headache worsened by March 15, when he consulted Dr Vinit Suri, the hospital’s senior consultant neurologist, over phone, it said. Suri immediately suspected a subdural haematoma and advised an urgent MRI, it added.

The spiritual leader underwent a brain MRI on the same day, and it revealed massive bleeding in the skull.

“There was evidence of a chronic bleed of three to four weeks duration as well as fresh bleeding that had occurred within a duration of 24 to 48 hours,” the statement said.

Sadhguru was advised immediate hospitalisation and appropriate medication schedule adjustment, but he had important meetings and events scheduled for March 15 and March 16, it said, adding he completed the meetings with the support of pain medication.

On March 17, he developed a decline in his level of consciousness, and weakness in the left leg, and was admitted to the medical facility under the care of Dr Suri. The CT scan revealed a marked increase in brain swelling and a decision was taken to operate, it said.

Sadhguru also posted a video on his Instagram account from his hospital bed. "The Apollo hospital neurosurgeons cut through my skull to try and find something but found nothing -- totally empty. So they gave up and patched it up. Here I am in Delhi with the patched-up skull but no damaged brain," he said in a lighter vein.

Sadhguru was managed by a team of doctors comprising Dr Vinit Suri, Dr Pranav Kumar, Dr Sudheer Tyagi and Dr S Chatterjee and underwent an emergency brain surgery on March 17 to remove the bleeding in the skull, the statement said.

Inputs from PTI