Kolkata: Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has been admitted to a hospital in Kolkata on Saturday evening after a complaint of difficulty in breathing. 

According to officials, He was hurriedly taken from his Palam Avenue residence to the hospital through a green corridor. Bhattacharya was immediately placed on mechanical ventilator support in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The former CM is 79 years old.

Bhattacharya, who was the chief minister of the state from 2000 to 2011, has been battling COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and other age-related ailments for some time. 

“The condition of former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is critical. We are probing them. His oxygen level had dropped to 70 percent and he had lost consciousness.,” said hospital officials.

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