Suranjit on life support

Veteran Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta was put on life support at the city's Labaid hospital around 9:00pm yesterday.

His condition was “very critical”, Dr Saifur Rahman Lenin, assistant general manager (corporate communications) of the hospital, told The Daily Star around 12:10am today.

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The brain of Suranjit, a cancer patient, was not working properly. He was having some respiratory problems as well, said the doctor.

Asked whether the AL leader, 72, would be taken abroad for treatment, Saiful said he could not be taken anywhere until his condition improved.

Siddiqur Rahman, front desk accountant at the hospital, said Suranjit was at the coronary care unit (CCU) and was under the observation of Dr Boren Chakraborty.

After visiting the ailing leader for a while, his personal assistant Kamrul Haque told The Daily Star around 1:10am that his condition seemed “very bad”.

Around half an hour later, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal also visited Suranjit and echoed Kamrul's views.

“If there is any scope for taking him abroad, he will be taken there,” Kamal said.

Suranjit, a former railways minister, was admitted to the hospital on Friday. He would be taken to Singapore by an air ambulance today, Kamrul had said earlier in the night.

Suranjit has long been fighting cancer, said his family members.

He is the AL lawmaker from Sunamganj-2 constituency and a member of the party's advisory council. Also, he is the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry.