The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today shared a letter written by the Director General of Prisons requesting a senior AIIMS doctor for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, countering the prison authorities claim of adequate medical facilities in Tihar jail.
AAP Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj hit out at the jail administration – alleging a flip-flop – and reiterated the party’s claim that a conspiracy was being hatched for Arvind Kejriwal’s “slow death” in the prison.
In a letter to AIIMS, Sanjay Baniwal, Director General of Prisons, yesterday requested the hospital to arrange a senior diabetologist for Mr Kejriwal.
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Soon after the AAP Ministers’s flip-flop charge, the jail administration said that a senior doctor from AIIMS was consulted via video conferencing following a request by the Chief Minister’s wife Sunita Kejriwal.
“After a detailed consultation, Arvind Kejriwal was assured that there was no serious concern and was advised to continue with the prescribed medicines, which will be evaluated and reviewed on a regular basis,” the administration said in a statement.
Mr Bharadwaj and Delhi Minister Atishi had yesterday claimed that Mr Kejriwal is being pushed towards “slow death” by being denied insulin and consultations with his doctors.
Atishi said that Mr Kejriwal used to take 50 units of insulin daily before he was sent to jail. “At the behest of the BJP, a conspiracy is underway to kill Mr Kejriwal in jail. The chief minister has been taking insulin for 12 years, what is the problem for the Tihar administration to give insulin to him?,” she asked.
The Tihar administration maintains that there is adequate availability of insulin in the jail dispensary and it can be administered to Mr Kejriwal “as and when required.
Mr Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money-laundering case linked to the Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy.
According to the medical records from RML Hospital, Mr Kejriwal was “neither advised any insulin nor any requirement of any insulin was indicated”, the Tihar report said and added that the chief minister’s health was reviewed by a medicine specialist on April 10 and April 15.
The specialist advised oral anti-diabetic drugs and it is “incorrect to state that Mr Kejriwal was denied insulin at any point of time” during his treatment, it said.
The medicine specialist, after examining Mr Kejriwal, noted, “Considering all parameters and vitals of undertrial prisoner (Mr Kejriwal) since his lodgment in judicial custody, his blood sugar levels are not alarming, and administration of insulin is not required as of now.”
The ED had told the court that Arvind Kejriwal was eating food high in sugar like mangoes and sweets every day, despite having type 2 diabetes, to create grounds for medical bail.
The administration had earlier sought a diet plan for the AAP chief, saying that Mr Kejriwal had been consuming high-sugar food such as “sweets, laddoos, bananas, mangoes, fruit chaat, fried food, namkeen, bhujia, sweetened tea, poori-aloo, pickles and other high cholesterol food on a regular basis”.
Mr Kejriwal, however, refuted the ED’s claims by asserting before the court that the food he consumed was in conformity with the diet chart prepared by his doctor.
