Cuttack, Feb 13: On Sunday former Lok Sabha Speaker Rabi Ray was admitted to the central ICU in SCB Medical College and Hospital here. The octogenarian leader has been suffering from pneumonia. Ray was admitted in a private hospital in Bhubaneswar some days back. But after he was diagnosed with pneumonia, he was shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital and put in the Out Patient Department (OPD) of the Medicine department. But as he had difficulty in breathing, he was later shifted to the central ICU. He is currently under treatment by a special team of doctors. Born on Nov 26, 1926, Ray was elected to the 4th Lok Sabha from Puri constituency in Odisha in 1967. In the 4th Lok Sabha, he was the leader of the Parliamentary Group of the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP). In 1974, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha and completed his term in the Upper House in 1980. He was the Union minister of Health and Family Welfare in Morarji Desai ministry from January 1979 to January 1980. In 1989, he was re-elected to the 9th Lok Sabha from the Kendrapara constituency in Orissa as a Janata Dal candidate. On 19 Dec 1989, he was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 9th Lok Sabha. In 1991, he was re-elected to the 10th Lok Sabha from the same constituency. Since 1997, he is associated with a non-political organization, the Lok Shakti Abhiyan.
