Kolkata, January 13: Ailing Marxist leader Jyoti Basu had a second blood transfusion today and is responding to treatment though he is still critical and on ventilation in hospital.
“He is responding to treatment and medicines,” Dr T S Kuckrejja, executive vice-president of AMRI hospital, where 95-year-old Basu was admitted on January 1 because of pneumonia, told reporters.
“His general condition still remains critical. He received a second unit of blood today. He continues to be on partial ventilation support,” a medical bulletin issued by the hospital said in the evening.
Basu was given a unit of blood yesterday to raise his haemoglobin level, which had decreased to eight. It had risen to nine after yesterday’s blood transfusion.
The CPI-M patriarch was given blood pressure stabilising drug, Ionotropes.
The medical board was constantly monitoring Basu’s condition and would review it again at 11 am tomorrow.
–Agencies