Salim Kumar has been admitted to a hospital in Kochi and is reportedly on ventilator support, placing the Malayalam actor back in the spotlight over a health struggle he has spoken about before.

The National and State award-winning actor had said a few years ago at a medical event that he had been living with liver cirrhosis for some time, and that the disease first appeared as jaundice. That account is what many readers are now searching for as news of his hospitalization spreads, because it points to a long medical history rather than a sudden, unexplained episode.

Salim Kumar said he had gone to three vaidyars before finally seeking a doctor’s help. One from Ottappalam prescribed a medicine called Nilamparantha to be added to porridge and eaten for 51 days. He said that doctor later told him to go to a hospital, claiming he was suffering from the fourth stage of cancer. He also described visiting Mohanan Vaidyar, who gave him grass that the cow eats along with other vegetables grown organically.

That visit is where the story turns darker. Salim Kumar said Mohanan Vaidyar claimed the medicine was working even after he started throwing up blood. He said he feared his intestines would come out, asked his son to contact the vaidyar, and was eventually told to head to a hospital. Later, he went to a third vaidyar in Malayattoor, where he was told to make a lehyam from water drawn from 500 coconuts and drink it. His wife made it with a lot of difficulty, he said, but his body rejected it.

He also said one of the vaidyars made him write a testimony saying he had gained weight after the treatment, only for him to later discover that the equipment used to check his weight was faulty. Salim Kumar has also said his liver cirrhosis is genetic and that his brother suffered from the same condition. The open question now is not whether he has been unwell before, but what exact complication has taken him to a Kochi hospital this time and what doctors plan to do next.