Vilasrao Deshmukh passes away

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who has been battling liver cancer in a hospital in Chennai died a short while ago. He was 67.

Having registered with the Tamil Nadu organ registry for a liver and a kidney, Vilasrao's case was cleared as a 'super ultra emergency'. He was to receive the organs from a 31-year-old man who was declared brain dead at the Government General Hospital, Chennai on Monday afternoon, but the prospective donor suffered a cardiac arrest in the early hours of Tuesday before his organs could be harvested.

Vilasrao Deshmukh's health condition has been see-sawing since he was brought to Chennai last Tuesday by an air ambulance. His son Riteish Deshmukh was registered with the authorities as a part-liver donor, but doctors said Vilasrao needed a full liver, which meant they had to get the organ from a brain-dead person. If a kidney was available, doctors said, they would transplant that too, since his kidneys had also failed. However, that was not meant to be as the donor suffered a cardiac arrest.

Vilasrao’s condition worsened by Tuesday afternoon and he breathed his last.

Bollywood stars took to twitter to pay their respects to Vilasrao and pray for Riteish. Here’s what some of them tweeted.

Bipasha Basu: RIP Vilasrao Deshmukh Sir! Strength to you Riteish and family! Extremely sad news!

Ayesha Takia Azmi: Sad sad day, RIP Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Dia Mirza: This is just so sad... My heart goes out to the entire Deshmukh family...

Farah Khan: RIP Vilasrao Deshmukh. You will be missed. Condolences to Riteish & genelia and the family.

Madhuri Dixit: Sorry to hear that Vilasrao Deshmukh has passed away. Our condolences go out to his family.

Karan Johar: RIP Vilasrao sir. Thoughts and prayers with the family... love you Riteish, all the strength and all the courage.

Raveena Tandon: Rest in peace Vilasrao Deshmukh. Condolences to the bereaved family, Riteish and (his wife) Genelia, words cannot express the shock and grief we (are) feeling.

Ken Ghosh: Prayers for Vilasrao Deshmukh strength to the family.

Aftab Shivdasani: Shocked and sad to hear of the passing of Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh. Prayers and peace to Riteish and the whole family.

Vishal Dadlani: RIP Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh. I wish Riteish and his family, strength and forbearance to cope with this tragic loss.