Madhabi Biswas. Picture by Bishwarup Datta

Twenty-five year old Madhabi Biswas, a temporary nurse at the AMRI hospital, was with Jyoti Basu at his Indira Bhavan residence on Sunday morning when the veteran leader lost consciousness.

Madhabi immediately informed his doctor A.K. Maity and administered cardiac massage that revived the former chief minister. The fulfilment of her duty has earned her an assurance from AMRI director S.K. Todi that she would be made a permanent nurse at the hospital.

Madhabi’s account, in which she says that Basu had two — not one as reported — blackouts on Sunday morning, follows.

Sir (Jyoti Basu) was in deep sleep when I entered his bedroom at eight in the morning yesterday. Even though he is so frail these days, he looked very peaceful and calm.

I took pains not to disturb him as he is normally a light sleeper and exchanged a few words with the night nurse who was readying to leave. After the night nurse was gone, I sat on the sofa next to the bed and went through his medical diary.

About an hour later, around 9.15 am, I heard a light stirring sound and found Sir waking up. In another 10 minutes, he was ready to get up from bed.

I held him gently by the arm as he walked towards the bathroom to brush his teeth. Within a few minutes of entering the bathroom, I found him wobbling a bit. Then, within seconds, I realised he was collapsing. I quickly clasped him to break his fall — this wasn’t a difficult task as he has turned so thin.

Then I shouted out to his aides to come and help me to carry him to bed. Rabi, who had been checking the room for some time to see if Sir had woken up, was the first to rush into the bathroom.

Between us, we carried Sir to his bed. Then I noticed that his pupils were fixed; his eyes were not moving and he was staring straight up. Sir was unconscious.

I quickly took his blood pressure; it was 85/40. Even though it was low, I breathed a bit easy. Then I took his pulse; it was 40, much lower than the 65 it normally is.

I knew I needed urgent medical advice. I spoke to Sir’s physician, Dr A.K. Maity. He told me that I should promptly give him ORS (oral rehydration solution). But before I could do that, Sir stirred a bit and regained consciousness.

I took a spoon, and started feeding him the ORS, small sip by sip.

By now Sir’s other aides were in the room. They were frantically calling up all those close to him — his son Chandan, his close aide Joykrishna Ghosh and others.

But barely had I fed him the ORS for five minutes than I found him slipping into unconsciousness again. His pupils once again became fixed, I took his pulse and blood pressure but couldn’t find any.

I took his feet in my hands and began to slap the soles very hard; no reaction.

I pressed around his eyes to dilate his pupils; no reaction.

Then I realised that the time had come for the last measure I knew: cardiac massage. I just prayed it would work.

I clasped my hands together and pressed it hard against his chest, rubbing as deeply as I could. A minute ticked by, no result.

Finally, after what seemed a lifetime, Sir slowly opened his eyes and I let out a long breath of relief.

Then the doctors arrived; the ECG was taken and blood pressure stabilising medicines were administered.

Before leaving for hospital, I asked: “How are you feeling, Sir?”

“I’m fine,” Sir replied.