Mamata Banerjee on Monday expressed satisfaction after a team of doctors treating former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at Woodlands Hospital here informed her that he had been brought out of intensive ventilation and most of his vital parameters were showing signs of improvement.

“I am happy to know he is responding to treatment... That’s most important. I wish him a speedy recovery,” said the chief minister while talking to doctors standing outside the fourth-floor cabin, with ICU set-up, at the hospital.

Bhattacharjee had been admitted to the hospital on Saturday afternoon following a sharp drop in his blood oxygen level and was put on a mechanical ventilator at night “due to altered sensorium and poor work of breathing”.

The health condition of the former chief minister, a COPD patient for years, created concerns in political circles and leaders of various parties and governor C.V. Ananda Bose visited him over the past two days.

The chief minister left for the Alipore address after the Assembly passed a resolution on the strife in Manipur on Monday afternoon. She spent around 10 minutes on the fourth floor of the hospital, talking to doctors and inquiring about her predecessor’s health.

“I didn’t come earlier... It generally takes at least two days for the doctors to get a sense of all medical complications of a serious patient,” Mamata said when she went into a huddle with Dr Malati Purkait, chief operating officer, Dr Soutik Panda, chief of critical care, Dr Saptarshi Basu, medical superintendent, and S. Sivakumar, chief finance officer at Woodlands Hospital.

Although the Woodlands administration gave Mamata permission to enter the cabin, where Bhattacharjee was admitted, she said: “I have come from outside.... There is always a risk of infection.”

When the attending doctors removed the curtain covering the glass window of the cabin, Mamata took a step forward and looked at Bhattacharjee. It was evident from outside that an attendant whispered into his ears about the arrival of the chief minister.

“I think you saw that he acknowledged your presence by raising his hand,” the attendant came out and told Mamata. The chief minister nodded, indicating that she got the message.

Over the next few minutes, Mamata wanted to know specific details of Bhattacharjee’s health — like the condition of the heart, the status of various key health parameters and the condition of his eyes.

On learning that the former chief minister was developing significant visual impairment, which was preventing him from reading, his favourite pastime, Mamata engaged with the doctors to explore what could be done.

When doctors informed her that the main problem was the lungs, she suggested that they could consult a prominent pulmonologist in Calcutta.

Mamata advised the doctors to release Bhattacharjee only after a complete recovery. “Madam, he doesn’t want to be at the hospital after a slight recovery,” one of the attending doctors told the chief minister.

Another doctor said that the former chief minister was also objecting to the use of BiPap, a machine which helps in breathing. “Please try to make him understand.... Do some counselling so that he recovers fully and then only goes home,” the chief minister said.

Then, she also asked the doctors whether any of his family members were present at the hospital at that moment. “None of them is here right now, but we are constantly in touch with them.... They are also visiting the hospital regularly,” said a doctor.

On her way out, Mamata met CPM leader Rabin Deb, who was in the waiting room on the fourth floor, and exchanged pleasantries. “I know that services at Woodlands have improved,” the chief minister said before leaving the hospital.

While Mamata’s visit to the hospital was seen as a goodwill gesture, some of the comments made by Trinamul Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh about what had happened in the state during Bhattacharjee’s tenure as the chief minister drew sharp criticism. A section of Trinamul leaders said in private that Ghosh’s comments on Singur and Nandiram were unnecessary and insensitive when the former chief minister was battling for his life.