Liaquat National Hospital (LNH) spokesman Anjum Rizvi on Wednesday morning said a panel of doctors will shortly decide whether to take Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Rashid Godil off the ventilator.
Godil was critically wounded after unidentified armed men opened fire on his vehicle near his residence in Karachi’s Bahadurabad area Tuesday.
The MQM leader underwent emergency surgery following the attack, and is currently in critical condition at LNH. He suffered five bullet wounds ─ two in the neck and three in the chest.
Initial preparations for taking Godil off the ventilator were being made, said Anjum Rizvi while speaking to media representatives. The oxygen supply had been decreased early this morning so Godil could begin breathing on his own, the hospital’s spokesman continued.
Rizvi also said doctors had discontinued giving sedatives to Godil a short while ago in order for him to regain consciousness and react.
“When he starts breathing with his own lungs and his system starts normalising, then the vent can be removed,” the spokesman said, adding that “when the panel comes, we have hope that he will be conscious and the doctors will be able to monitor his reactions”.
The spokesman said Godil’s wounded lung had been medicated, and the bullet in his jaw had been removed.
He stressed the importance of getting the MQM leader off the ventilator. “As long he is on the vent, his condition is critical,” he said. The spokesman said that consultant doctors were attending to and monitoring Godil.
The attack occurred as Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was in talks with senior MQM leaders regarding the party’s resignations from the federal and provincial assemblies, and the Senate last week.
