LAHORE, April 30: Indian spy Sarabjit Singh, who was severally injured in an attack by inmates in a prison, went into ‘non-reversible’ coma on Tuesday and was heading to ‘brain death’, said the doctors struggling to save his life.

His Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) had dropped to a critical level which showed that he was moving towards ‘brain death’, a senior doctor at the Jinnah Hospital told journalists. The GCS is a neurological scale that records the level of consciousness of a person.

“Now only his heart is beating but without brain function and this is because of his profound head injuries,” the doctor said.

But, he said, the medical board examining him on a daily basis was not in the position to declare him brain dead without consulting the authorities and Sarabjit’s family. After an extensive physical examination, the doctors had the unanimous opinion that he was absolutely unresponsive and unable to breathe without ventilator. They also examined the result of the GCS and finally expressed the opinion that he met the criteria of ‘brain death’.

The doctor said the authorities had been informed about the failing health of Singh.

Replying to a question, he said that Singh would not be removed from ventilator without approval of the government and consent of his family.