Buddhadeb Bhattacharya likely to be discharged later this week

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's health condition has improved and doctors are mulling discharging him in a couple of days' time, officials of the hospital where he is admitted said on Monday.

The 79-year-old Marxist leader though in better health, remained on intermittent non-invasive ventilatory support, they said.

"Mr Bhattacharya is alert and is responding to doctors and also talking to visitors. He is taking liquids orally," a senior doctor of the hospital said. "The medical board after reviewing his condition has decided to discharge him with home care support later this week," he said.

Bhattacharya's 'out of bed mobilisation' is being done and conservative medical management, physiotherapy and lung rehabilitation are still on. He is being given a trial on his home BiPAP machine and his overall clinical status remains stable, the doctor said. Bhattacharya is suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other age-related ailments. He is admitted to a private hospital since July 29.

The Marxist leader took over as the chief minister of Bengal in 2000 from party senior Jyoti Basu. He remained in the post till 2011, handling a tenure marked by agitations over the acquisition of private 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-roomed 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.