Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's health condition has improved and he is "clinically stable", a senior doctor at the hospital, where he is being treated, said on Friday.

Bhattacharya is on intermittent non-invasive ventilatory support and is alert and conscious, he said.

"Mr Bhattacharya remains on intermittent non-invasive ventilatory support on the 7th day of admission. He is alert and is responding to doctors and visitors. Relevant conservative medical management, physiotherapy and lung rehabilitation are being done," the doctor said.

One pulmonologist has attended the former CM and suggested a few medicines.

The 79-year-old Bhattacharya is on intravenous antibiotics which would be continued till Saturday, he said.

Intravenous antibiotics are antibiotics that are administered directly into a vein to enter the bloodstream immediately and bypass the absorption in the gut. This delivery method is used for severe infections because intravenous antibiotics reach tissues faster and at higher concentrations than oral antibiotics.

"Bhattacharya is on Ryles tube feeding and a swallow assessment is being done. His overall clinical status remains stable," he added.

The sexagenarian was rushed to the hospital on July 29 with breathing troubles. He was diagnosed with lower respiratory tract infection and 'Type 2' respiratory failure. He has been suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other age-related ailments.

The Marxist leader took over as the chief minister of Bengal in 2000 from senior party leader Jyoti Basu. He remained in the post till 2011, handling a tenure marked by agitations over the acquisition of land for industries led by the present Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Bhattacharya lost the 2011 assembly election to Banerjee's TMC and the CPI(M)-led Left Front's 34-year-long rule in the state came to an end that year.

Over the last few years, he has stayed away from the public glare due to his deteriorating health and remained confined to his two-room government apartment.

Bhattacharya stepped down from the CPI(M) politburo and central committee in 2015 and gave up membership of the party's state secretariat in 2018.

He was last seen in public when he surprised party workers by arriving unannounced at the Left's rally at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata before the 2019 Lok Sabha poll with oxygen support.

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