Thaindian News

By Madhuri Dey
Jan 17, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Veteran Communist leader Jyoti Basu died today, Jan 17, 2010, at the age of 95. The time of death has been declared to be around 11:47. The news of his death was first made public by the state secretary of the Communist Part Of India-Marxist, Biman Bose. The former Chief Minister of West Bengal is survived by his son, Chandan Basu, and his grandchildren. He had been admitted in the AMRI Hospital in Salt Lake, Kolkata, near his residence.

Jyoti Basu was critically ill in the last few days of his life. He had been put on life support system after he started having some respiratory problems, and had also been undergoing dialysis. He had been admitted to the AMRI Hospital after complaining of chest pain, and then had been diagnosed with pneumonia. Ever since, his health had been deteriorating rapidly, reaching the peak yesterday, with the doctors reporting multiple organ failure. It was also reported that the requirement of oxygen supply had increased significantly, a marked change from what had been reported earlier.

The medical board, consisting of six doctors, that had been attending on the longest serving former Chief Minister of West Bengal, reported yesterday, Jan 16, that he had been put on maximum ventilator support, and that following renal failure, slow low efficiency dialysis was being carried out after his blood pressure dropped significantly following the normal process of dialysis. He was being administered heavy medication in order to normalize his blood pressure. Although Jyoti Basu had stepped down from the post of the Chief Minister in 2000, citing health reasons, he had still been a colossal figure in West Bengal politics.