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Ex-Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee hospitalised, on ventilation, say doctors
Bhattacharjee is suffering from lower respiratory tract infection and Type II respiratory failure, according to the hospital
Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, 79, who was rushed to a private hospital in south Kolkata on Saturday afternoon, was put on ventilation at night, doctors said.
Bhattacharjee was “electively intubated and ventilated last night due to altered sensorium and poor work of breathing,” a statement issued by Dr Rupali Basu, CEO and managing director of the hospital, said on Sunday afternoon.
Bhattacharjee is suffering from lower respiratory tract infection and Type II respiratory failure, according to the hospital.
“He is haemodynamically stable. A CT thorax is planned,” the statement said, adding that the veteran CPI(M) leader was admitted with “lower respiratory tract infection and Type-II respiratory failure.”
Dr Kaushik Chakraborty, a doctor from the nine-member panel of specialists attending on the former CM, told the media on Saturday that they would wait for at least two days for Bhattacharjee to respond to the antibiotics administered to counter the respiratory tract infection.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, who lives in a small two-room government apartment in south Kolkata’s Ballygunge area, is a patient with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). He has rarely left home in the last few years.
Bhattacharjee was admitted to the same hospital in May 2021 with a Covid-19 infection. He was released after seven days when his condition improved.
Bhattacharjee was in the same hospital for six days in October 2020 as well. He was admitted in critical condition with symptoms such as breathlessness and low oxygen count in his blood. However, he responded to intermittent BiPAP support, doctors at the hospital said.
Governor C V Ananda Bose and leaders from several parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, visited the hospital on Saturday and Sunday.
