Cartoonist RK Laxman critical following multi-organ failure

Eminent cartoonist RK Laxman continues to be in critical condition a day after he was hospitalised, doctors treating him said on Sunday.

Eminent cartoonist RK Laxman continues to be in critical condition a day after he was hospitalised, doctors treating him said on Sunday.

Laxman, 94, was admitted to the intensive care unit of Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital for a urinary infection. The doctors said Laxman had been put on ventilator support following multi-organ failure.

“Laxman is critically ill. He was admitted for an infection, coupled with multi-organ failure. We have put him on ventilator,” said Dr Sameer Jog. The nonagenarian underwent dialysis late on Saturday, hospital sources said.

“Laxman has had various health issues. In the past, he has had renal inefficiency and a lung infection,” Dr Jog said.

In 2010, Laxman suffered several strokes, limiting his movement and speech, said Kailas Bhingare, who runs Saraswati Library, and is close to the Laxmans.

Even as strokes prevented the cartoonist from speaking, he continued to sketch, expressing himself through his pet character – the emblematic face of the common man, Bhingare said.

For more than five decades, Laxman through his character of the common man, held a mirror up to society by creating satirical cartoons targeting politicians. Of late though, he has stopped sketching political cartoons.