Kolkata, January 17: CPI-M patriarch Jyoti Basu, who has suffered multi-organ failure and was on a temporary pacemaker since late last night, continued to remain extremely critical with fluid accumulating in his body Sunday morning.
“Last night his condition deteriorated and there was a drop in heart beat which went below 50. A temporary pacemaker was installed immediately. His condition remains extremely critical,” Debashish Sharma, Superintendent of AMRI Hospital, where Basu was admitted with pneumonia on January one, told reporters.
“As of now, Basu?s heart beat and blood pressure have stabilized,” Sharma said.
Doctors on the medical board at the hospital will review his condition soon to decide when he would be put again on Slow Low Efficiency Daily Dialysis (SLEDD), he said.
Ajit Kumar Maity, Basu’s personal physician, however, said that putting the former chief minister on SLEDD would depend on his blood pressure and heart beat, both of which had dropped after it was carried out yesterday.
Maity, who described Basu’s condition as “pretty bad”, said toxic elements in his kidneys were leading to acidosis and fluid accumulation in the body. “In this condition, dialysis is most essential to neutralise acidosis and water accumulation.”
“The carbon dioxide content in his body is also increasing and the acidosis factor is a matter of concern,” Maity said.
The 95-year-old Basu had been put on SLEDD yesterday for eight hours, but it was stopped after seven-and-a-half hours when his blood pressure dropped. Subsequently his heartbeat also fell to 50 against the normal of 60, which led Maity and critical care specialist Susruth Banerjee to rush back to the hospital last night. Both the doctors are on the medical board of AMRI.
Banerjee said dialysis had failed to yield the desired result as the toxic elements could not be disposed off from his kidneys.
-PTI