Ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan, who has been ailing for some time, was on Thursday admitted to a hospital in this eastern Pakistani city in a critical condition.
The singer’s son Arif Mehdi told a TV news channel that his father was had infection in the chest and lungs. 81-year-old Hassan has been in poor health since last year. He was also hospitalised for several months last year due to chest infection.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani recently announced that the government would provide Rs 50,000 a month as assistance to Hassan. Hassan was born into a family of traditional musicians in Luna village in India’s Rajasthan state in 1927. His family migrated to Pakistan at the time of partition. Hassan, who has a huge following in the subcontinent, cut back on his performances in the late 1980s due to illness.