A spokesman from Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi updated members of press earlier this morning regarding the condition of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Rashid Godil.
The MQM leader was targeted in a shooting in Karachi on Tuesday and suffered 5 bullets. He was rushed to the hospital after the police and rescue team arrived, and his attackers escaped the site. His driver, also a victim of the attack – succumbed to his injuries, but Godil survived, though he was said to be in critical condition.
Speaking to members of the press outside Liaquat Hopsital, the spokesperson, Anjum Rizvi, said that Godil’s mental functions, kidney functions, heart beat and blood pressure were normal and that he wasn’t being given any sedatives. Addressing reports by private media channels regarding the possibility of the attacked leader being weaned off the ventilator, he said that Godil had gradually been weaned off the ventilator by 60pc so that he might start breathing on his own, but that the decision to completely take him off it rested with a panel of doctors, who were still in deliberation.
“He’s responding to doctors’ voices by moving his hands”, said the spokesman, but he added that Rashid Godil was still not in the clear, and that his lungs had been badly affected by the incident. According to Rizvi, a bullet had punctured a lung from one side and exited through the other.
Shedding light on the speculations about the wounds sustained by the MQM leader, Rizvi explained that Godil had suffered 5 bullets: 2 in the neck and 3 in the chest. Rizvi stressed the importance of getting Godil off the vent, stating that his condition would remain critical till they did.
“We’re doIng everything we can to save him,” he said, adding “the next 24 hours are critical”.