Former chief minister Budhhadeb Bhattacharjee was taken off invasive ventilation on Monday after he showed signs of improvement, a doctor treating Bhattacharjee said.
In an evening bulletin on Monday, Woodlands Hospital said that Bhattacharjee, 79, “was successfully weaned off invasive ventilation and is presently on non-invasive ventilator support”.
The statement added: “Relevant conservative medical management is being continued. His overall clinical status remains stable and is under close monitoring.”
A CT scan of the thorax that was done on Monday morning revealed changes in the lungs that are long-term results of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD). Bhattacharjee, who was a smoker, has been suffering from COPD for many years. The CT scan showed marks of pneumonia.
“He is clinically better than yesterday (Sunday) and his consciousness level was also better. Therefore we decided to take him off mechanical ventilation,” said Saptarshi Basu, medical superintendent of Woodlands Hospital and a member of the team of doctors treating Bhattacharjee.
The former chief minister was admitted to the hospital on Saturday afternoon after the oxygen level in his blood dipped. He was admitted
with a “lower respiratory tract infection and Type II respiratory failure”, which means the accumulation of carbon
dioxide that cannot be eliminated by the respiratory system.
A multi-disciplinary medical team comprising specialists in medicine, critical care, interventional cardiology, internal medicine and pulmonology, and anesthesiology has been formed to monitor Bhattacharjee’s health.