Critically-ill after testing Covid positive, Jagarnath Mahto is facing minor difficulty in breathing but is able to talk to visitors and read newspapers, chief minister Hemant Soren said after meeting the education minister at Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Superspecialty Hospital in Ranchi on Saturday.

Hemant said Mahto’s condition was improving gradually after he and health minister Banna Gupta visited the hospital in the afternoon and sought updates on his condition from a team of doctors treating him in the private hospital.

A special team of doctors from state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) has been constituted to advise the doctors treating Mahto in Medica.

During his meeting with the doctors, Hemant directed them to closely monitor all the changes in Mahto’s health condition and provide regular updates to the government.

Later, the chief minister said the government was planning to send Mahto outside Ranchi for better treatment but doctors advised against it as he was not fit to travel. “The education minister has been undergoing treatment in this hospital for 10 days, and his condition is gradually improving,” said Hemant. “He is still facing minor difficulty in breathing, but he is talking to visitors and also reading newspapers,” he added.

The chief minister said that Mahto was getting the best possible treatment in Ranchi. And any facility that is available in the metro cities will be provided to Mahto here itself as he had been asked not to travel.

“Before being admitted to Medica, he (Mahto) was undergoing treatment at RIMS. Although he has shown improvement, the pace of recovery is quite slow,” said Hemant.

Mahto was admitted in the ICU of Medica on October 1 and put on non-invasive ventilator. The oxygen level in his blood had gone down to 65mm Hg. The normal reading is between 75mm Hg to 100mm Hg.

Dr Vijay Mishra, who has been treating Mahto at Medica, said the oxygen level in his blood has improved marginally, but it was still lower than optimum. “We are providing the standard treatment that would be given to him in any other hospital in the country. And he is responding to it,” said Mishra.

Mahto is among five ministers who have tested positive for Covid-19 so far. State minority welfare minister Haji Hussain Ansari died hours after recovering from Covid-19 last week. Besides, health minister Banna Gupta, drinking water and sanitation minister Mithilesh Thakur and agriculture minister Badal Patralekh have recovered without showing severe symptoms.