PM visits ailing Basu
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who airdashed from New Delhi along with Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to see the critically ill nonagenarian Marxist leader, offered to arrange specialist doctors from any part of the country, should there be a need for it.
Singh was there for about 20 minutes and talked to the doctors attending on Basu.
“The Prime Minister saw Basu from outside the ICU cabin and wished him speedy recovery,” former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee told reporters. “He discussed with doctors and some of us Basu’s health and promised to arrange services of doctors from anywhere in India.”
President Pratibha Patil telephoned Chandan Basu, son of the former West Bengal chief minister, and enquired about the health of the leader, suffering from a nasty attack of pneumonia. The President, who is presently in Amravati, Maharashtra,wished him speedy recovery, official sources here said.
Hospital director D N Agarwal quoting the latest medical bulletin said that there has not been any significant change in the condition of Basu whose dependence on ventilatory support has reduced during the day.
There has also been a considerable reduction in dosage of the drug for stabilising his blood pressure while Basu was given some vitamin and being fed through rice tubes.
The eight member medical board, attending on him, found Basu marginally better,though the condition continued to be grave ruling out the possibility of removing the life support.
Basu was admitted to the hospital on January 1 following chest congestion and respiratory infections.
Security
A foolproof security ring has been thrown in and around the hospital to sanitise the entire area.
A host of dignitaries, including Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury among others,visited Basu at the hospital during the day.
Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda is likely to visit Basu on Friday.