PM Visits Basu, Offers to Arrange Any Specialist

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday visited veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu, who is in critical condition in Kolkata and said that he would arrange any medical specialist needed for treatment of former West Bengal chief minister.

Singh spent 22 minutes at the hospital in Kolkata’s satellite township Salt Lake, where Basu is on ventilator support at the intensive cardiac care unit (ICCU).

Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee were also with the prime minister.

Singh, who observed Basu from outside the ICCU, discussed his health condition with doctors.

“He told them that if they thought it necessary, he would arrange for any expert doctors from any part of the country,” former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee told mediapersons.

He said that Singh also talked to Basu’s son Chandan and extended his wishes for the ailing leader’s fast recovery.

“We are deeply touched by the trouble the prime minister has taken to come and visit our leader,” said Chatterjee.

Chandan said that the doctors told the Prime Minister that the hospital had the best of specialists.

“I am also satisfied with the treatment. I don’t think there is any need to fly in any doctor,” Chandan said.