Former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was admitted to hospital on Saturday afternoon after a drop in the oxygen level in his blood.
Woodlands Hospital said in a statement that Bhattacharjee’s condition was “hemodynamically stable”.
Haemodynamically stable means that the former chief minister’s blood pressure and heart rate are stable.
Bhattacharjee, 79, was admitted with a “lower respiratory tract infection and Type II respiratory failure”, the hospital said.
He was put on “non-invasive ventilation, antibiotics and other supportive management”.
Type II respiratory failure means the accumulation of carbon dioxide that cannot be eliminated by the respiratory system.
An official of the hospital said Bhattacharjee had become drowsy because of the accumulation of carbondioxide.
Bhattacharjee has been suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) for many years and has had to be hospitalised on a few occasions earlier too. He was admitted to Woodlands with Covid two years ago.
CPM leader Rabin Deb, who went to the hospital, said Bhattacharjee’s fever had subsided and that doctors had told him Bhattacharjee was doing better than his condition at home.
The former chief minister’s wife and daughter were present in the hospital. Bengal governor C.V. Ananda Bose was among the vistors.
CPM state secretary Mohammad Salim tweeted on Saturday evening: “Not to be worried. For all those who are enquiring and expressing their concern over the health conditions of Com. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.”
Salim also shared the statement issued by the hospital.
Salim, who held a news conference at the party’s state headquarters earlier in the day, said the former chief minister’s “attending doctor” did not want to take any risk and so he was admitted to the hospital.
“His attending doctor said that they do not want to take any risk. He is under treatment and everyone knows that he is unwell. There are a few parameters and when the doctors feel they these are not all right (the patient is shifted to the hospital),” Salim said.
Former Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi expressed his deep concern. He conveyed to Meera Bhattacharjee “his anxious enquiries and his prayerful wishes for the former chief minister’s recovery”.
A medical team comprising specialists in medicine, critical care, interventional cardiology, internal medicine and pulmonology, and anesthesiology has been formed to monitor his health.