CHENNAI: Veteran Communist Party of India (CPI) leader R Nallakannu has been admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), where he is undergoing intensive care for a lung infection, doctors said on Monday.

Hospital sources noted that the centenarian developed the infection due to age-related complications. A team of senior doctors is supervising his treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Senior CPI leader Dr GR Ravindranath said Nallakannu was initially admitted to a private hospital on August 22 after he sustained injuries due to a fall at his residence. During his stay there, he aspirated while drinking coffee, which led to a lung infection.

“As he experienced breathing difficulties, he was shifted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital last night, where doctors carried out a minor procedure. He is now stable and under close observation,” Dr Ravindranath, general secretary of Doctors' Association for Social Equality (DASE).