Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, 82, was admitted to a private hospital on Thursday after he complained of respiratory distress.
“Preliminary investigations suggest he is suffering from bronchitis, precipitated by lung infection. His condition is stable,” said critical care expert Subrata Maitra, who is leading the team of doctors treating Chatterjee at Belle Vue Clinic.
The former CPM MP, a diabetic, complained of breathlessness on Wednesday morning at his Bolpur house.
Anushila Basu, Chatterjee’s daughter, said he had gone to Bolpur from Calcutta on Tuesday evening.
“We were worried. Local doctors advised hospitalisation,” Basu said.
Chatterjee was brought to Calcutta in an ambulance and admitted to Belle Vue around 2.30pm. “An initial check-up has ruled out any cardiac problem. But we are constantly monitoring his cardiac condition,” said Maitra.
In January 2010, Chatterjee had been admitted to a city hospital with a similar lung infection.
nAccident: A goods carrier overturned on Vidyasagar Setu late on Thursday, disrupting traffic on the Howrah-bound flank. Police said the vehicle had lost control and hit a lamp post on the divider before turning turtle.
nArrest: Radheshyam Deb, 59, an upper division clerk in the insolvency department at the high court, was arrested on Thursday for allegedly being involved in issuing fake bankruptcy certificates.