Saira Banu diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome, continues to be in ICU

Veteran actress Saira Banu continues to be in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Hinduja hospital at Khar in Mumbai. She was admitted there a few days ago because of blood pressure-related issues.

It is now learnt that Saira Banu has developed a heart ailment. A doctor from the hospital told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency, “Yesterday, her cardiac tests happened and she has been diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome.”

PTI reported that doctors had advised Saira Banu to undergo a coronary angiogram but she has refused. “Once she gives her consent, doctors can perform an angiography,” the doctor said.

The doctor also said the actress, 77, has gone into depression after the death of her husband of 55 years and Hindi screen legend Dilip Kumar aka Yusuf Khan. “She doesn’t sleep much. She wants to go home,” the doctor said.

Dilip Kumar died on 7 July, aged 98, after having been in and out of hospital several times in the past year. The matinee idol of the 1950s and 1960s was bedridden in his final years and it was Saira Banu's loving care and determination that saw him through several health crises over the past decade.

Saira Banu herself was one of the more popular, glamorous and gorgeous actresses of Hindi cinema in the 1960s and 1970s, having made her debut as a teenager opposite Shammi Kapoor in Junglee way back in 1961.