Suchitra Sen slipping in and out of danger

Legendary Bengali actor Suchitra Sen, 82, continued to be in and out of danger with doctors inserting an endotracheal tube to extract her phlegm on Saturday, her 19th day in the hospital.

Legendary Bengali actor Suchitra Sen, 82, continued to be in and out of danger with doctors inserting an endotracheal tube to extract her phlegm on Saturday, her 19th day in the hospital.

During the day, Sen was again said to be critical after suffering a cardiac arrest. Even the oxygen level in her blood has been fluctuating to dangerous proportions. She is also facing severe breathing trouble and placed in non-invasive ventilation right from the beginning.

On Saturday, Mamata Banerjee visited Sen for the fifth time and spent nearly an hour with her. During the day, veteran medical expert Sukumar Mukherjee had to be roped in for his advice on Sen’s medication.

“The oxygen level in her blood increased to 90-100%. Earlier in the day, we detected blood in her phlegm. Adrenaline was pumped through the endotracheal tube. Earlier we gave her intravenous food, but now we have increased it to two for delivering more calories. She was given sedatives to that she could sleep,” Maitra said.

It has been 19 days since Sen has been admitted to hospital with severe chest infection, though she later developed a number of other complications as well.

During this course, she has been the subject of much curiosity for the media as well as her fans, whose expressions varied from anguish to relief, depending on medical bulletins issued by hospital authorities.