Jyoti Basu’s condition critical

CPI(M) leader and former Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu. He was put under ventilator support as his condition turned serious on Wednesday. Photo: AP

The condition of veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu turned critical early on Wednesday morning and he was put on ventilator support. It showed “some positive changes” later in the day.

According to a medical bulletin issued by the hospital where Mr. Basu was admitted on January 1 and was diagnosed to be suffering from pneumonia, his “condition deteriorated early in the morning when his respiratory distress worsened and he was put on ventilator.”

The board of doctors constituted by the hospital to monitor his condition reviewed his situation at 5 p.m. and later declared: “His present condition continues to be still critical but has shown some positive changes.”

Doctors attending on Mr. Basu changed the antibiotics and increased the dosages of medicines being given to him, Dr. Debashis Sharma, an official of the hospital, said.

“His condition has marginally improved since the morning. His urine output has increased and his blood pressure is stable now,” Dr. Sharma said. “Although he is on ventilator support, he is conscious,” he added.

An anxious Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee over telephone and inquired after Mr. Basu.