Former Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Who Admitted To Kolkata Hospital, Is Stable

The condition of former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was admitted to a hospital on Friday night, has improved, according to an official of the Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital Limited in Kolkata. The official said the 75-year-old veteran CPIM leader, is now conscious, alert and talking.

"Bhattacharjee is maintaining all his vital parameters now. He is tolerating oral food. He is also tolerating BiPAP.  He is quite stable," PTI quoted the official as saying.

There is occasional atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm) and he has low calcium and magnesium levels, he said adding that an eight-member team of specialised doctors is monitoring his condition.

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The former chief minister has been suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) for quite some time. He was rushed to the hospital after he suffered an acute exacerbation of COPD and his blood pressure fell on Friday afternoon.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Bhattacharjee in the hospital on Friday and spoke to the doctors about his condition. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, senior CPIM leaders Surjya Kanta Mishra, Rabin Deb and Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya also paid visit to the hospital.

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Bhattacharya, one of the longest-serving chief ministers of West Bengal, in 2000, replaced Jyoti Basu after the latter's 23-year rule. In the 2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) gained a majority of seats, ending the 34-year-long rule of the Left front in the state.

Lately, the veteran CPIM leader has also been losing his vision and was kept in a dim lit room at his Palm Avenue residence in Kolkata. He stepped down from the CPIM politburo, central committee and the state secretariat due to ill health in 2018. His last public appearance was on February 3 this year during a Left Front mega rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds in the West Bengal capital.