Kolkata, Jan 15 (IANS) Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu’s condition turned “very, very critical” Friday night after he suffered multi-organ failure and was not responding to treatment, doctors attending on him said.
“Basu is suffering from multi-organ failure. His lungs are not functioning properly and he has been put on ventilator support. His cardiac and renal systems are also not working enough,” Susrut Banerjee, a doctor attending on the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader, told reporters.

“His blood pressure is being maintained through medicine and we put him on dialysis. The heart’s pumping is also not adequate,” Banerjee, critical care specialist at the AMRI Hospital, said.

“He is very, very critical. His heart and liver function is also deteriorating and the sensorium of the brain is very low,” said cardiologist A. K. Maity, who heads the eight-member medical board treating the former West Bengal chief minister.

Asked how long he could survive in such a state, Banerjee said: “I don’t know what will happen and when it will happen”. With Basu’s condition worsening fast, the hospital has summoned all the board members to attend to him.

The 95-year-old communist icon was hospitalised after a pneumonia attack and admitted in the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit (ICCU) of the Salt Lake-based private hospital Jan 1.

Born 1914 in Kolkata, Basu became chief minister of West Bengal in June 1977. He stepped down voluntarily on health grounds in November 2000.