Aitmatov’s condition critical but stable (TASS)
Kyrgyz writer Aitmatov’s condition critical but stable, adviser says.
KAZAN, May 17 (Itar-Tass) -- Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov, who was hospitalised in Kazan, Tatarstan, on Friday, remains in critical but stable condition, his adviser Alimzhan Mirzayev said. He denied media reports claiming that the writer “has fallen into a coma”. “I have just talked with Chingiz Torekulovoch and can say that he is feeling better,” he said.
“Our distinguished guest receives a wide range of medical assistance. Doctors held counsel last night. The diagnosis is kidney failure. Tatarstan’s Health Minister Airat Farrakhov is personally watching the 79-year-old patient’s condition,” the republic’s Health Ministry said on Saturday.
Aitmatov, who arrived in Kazan on May 15, felt ill on Friday and was taken to Republican Clinical Hospital No. 2 and then transferred to Clinical Hospital No. 1 where he is undergoing medical treatment.
The Kyrgyz writer cam to Kazan for three days together with a filming crew of Russia’s television channel Rossiya that is making a documentary about him. They were supposed to go to the village of Burbash where his mother’s great-grandfather is buried and to the village of Maskara where 13 tombs of the Ishman family, of which the writer’s is a descendant, have been preserved up to date.
