You may always see him smiling and greeting everyone with humbleness, but at the same time it is also true that Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan is living with only 25 per cent of his liver functioning today.
Bachchan made a startling revelation that he had lost the rest 75 percent to the deadly Hepatitis B virus. Speaking at the launch of media campaign for on Hepatitis, Amitabh Bachchan recollected how he contracted the disease.
“Hepatitis B came to me accidentally. After my accident on the sets of Coolie, I was infused with the blood of about 200 donors and 60 bottles of blood were injected into my system. The Australian antigen Hepatitis B had only been detected three months ago and it was very new for being detected also among various tests needed to be carried out before giving blood to another patient.
One of my blood donors was carrying Hepatitis B virus which went into my system. I continued to function normally till year 2000 and almost 18 years after the accident, during a very normal medical checkup, I was told that my liver was infected and I had lost 75 per cent of my liver. So, if I am standing here today, you are looking at a person who is surving with 25 per cent of liver. That is the bad part. The good part is you can survive even with 12%. But no one wants to get to that stage,” said Amitabh Bachchan.
Amitabh Bachchan also praised the doctors and medical facilities in India and certified them as second to none when it comes to treating patients infected with TB and Hepatitis B.
“I went through a medical course and during all my ailments, I relied on medical experts and doctors in my country despite having the means to do go abroad but I had faith in the medical professionals and doctors of India. When we took a second opinion abroad, I found out that whatever diagnosis was commanded to me by Indian was no different from the foreign ones,” he said.
The superstar also complimented the efforts of workers who go deep into rural areas to administers vaccine doses.
