DOCTORS treating Indian spiritual leader Sai Baba, one of the country’s most famous gurus, said today his health was deteriorating fast as devotees gathered to pray for his recovery.
Police in Sai Baba’s hometown of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh, erected crowd barriers to control worried followers who rushed to the hospital where he was being treated.
Thousands of well-wishers have converged on Puttaparthi, many of them sleeping out in the open on pavements because of a lack of hotel rooms.
A medical bulletin said the vital organs of the 85-year-old Hindu mystic were “showing very poor response to the treatment” since he was taken into hospital last month with a heart condition, lung congestion and kidney failure.
“Non-functioning of the liver and persistent episodes of low blood pressure are causing great worry to the doctors,” the bulletin said.
Sai Baba is credited by millions of followers around the world with having supernatural powers, including an ability to conjure objects out of thin air, remember past lives and cure terminal diseases.
He counts former prime ministers and presidents, top businessmen and even Indian cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar among his followers.
Senior Puttaparthi police officer Narasimhulu, who uses only one name, said safety measures had been introduced including a ban on large public gatherings in the town, some 450 kilometres (280 miles) from Hyderabad.
“We have also erected barricades near the hospital to control unruly crowds,” the deputy police superintendent told a reporter by telephone.
In Hyderabad, state Chief Minister Kiran Reddy met officials to organise crowd control plans as shops around the hospital were ordered to shut down.
Sainath Raju, a close relative of Sai Baba, complained he was not allowed to visit the ailing guru.
“There are at least 100 relatives gathered at the hospital but none of us were allowed to see him,” Raju told a reporter by telephone.
Raju said senior officials from Sai Baba’s religious trust who visited the guru’s bedside remained hopeful that he would recover.
The present day Sai Baba claims to be the reincarnation of a former holy man, Sai Baba of Shirdi, who died in 1918.
His organisation funds health and education projects in India, including a string of hospitals that say they are able to cure ailments beyond the capabilities of mainstream medicine.
