Doctors treating Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi on Thursday said the veteran leader’s health was on a “slight decline”. The former Tamil Nadu chief minister is being treated for age-related ailments and a urinary tract infection by Chennai’s Kauvery Hospital. He is 94 years old.

“He is being treated round-the-clock by a team of medical and nursing professionals who are providing hospital-level care at his home,” Kauvery Hospital said. The hospital administration has also advised restriction of visitors.

Karunanidhi completes 49 years as the party’s president on Friday. His health has been weak since October 2016 when he underwent a procedure to change his tracheostomy tube as part of an attempt to improve his breathing, PTI reported.

On Wednesday, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Working President and Karunanidhi’s son MK Stalin said his father had fever and that the doctors had assured him that there was nothing to worry about, the news agency reported. Stalin said his father had worked “without any respite” all his life and that “time has given him some rest” while referring to his health problems. He added that “time and medical science” will fulfill the party workers’ yearning to hear his “magnetic” voice again.