Raj Niwas on Saturday released a medical status report submitted by the Director General (Prisons) to Lieutenant-Governor V.K Saxena which states that according to the doctors who examined him, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s blood sugar levels were “not alarming” and “administration of insulin is not required as of now”.
The report, submitted on April 19, mentions that doctors had examined him on April 3, 6, 10, 15 and 16. The CM has been lodged in Tihar Jail since April 1.
The DG (Prisons) report triggered another round of charges between the ruling AAP, which accused the BJP and the L-G of “pushing the CM towards a slow death”, and the Opposition party, which responded by saying that AAP was “trying to sail through a political storm by selling stories of illness”.
‘Stopped taking insulin’
The report also states that Mr. Kejriwal was started on oral medication after he had recently complained of blood sugar level spike and that his sugar and blood pressure are being reviewed on a daily basis.
It also says during his first medical examination on reaching Tihar Jail on April 1, Mr. Kejriwal gave a medical history without documentation that he was taking insulin for the last few years and had stopped taking it a few months ago on advice from a doctor from Telangana.
“It is incorrect to state that he [Kejriwal] was denied insulin at any point of time during his treatment... insulin may be provided as and when required and advised by a medicine specialist,” the report states. It adds that a letter to the Medical Superintendent, AIIMS, Delhi, was written with his present medical condition and the chief dietician of its Department of Diabetes has advised a diet in reply.
AAP persisted with its charge that the L-G and Tihar Jail authorities have decided to deny insulin to Mr. Kejriwal. “Today it has become absolutely clear that the BJP and the L-G have orchestrated a grand conspiracy to kill Mr. Kejriwal in custody since they are unable to find any evidence against him in the alleged Delhi liquor scam,” the party said in a statement, which also said the AAP national convener was seen by a doctor who is not even a diabetologist.
AAP leaders, conducting multiple press conferences on the issue during the day, rejected the report’s statement that Mr. Kejriwal’s blood sugar was “not alarming”. “He [Kejriwal] has been repeatedly asking for insulin. The doctor is saying, ‘I won’t give it.’ Now, it has come to the point where the doctor and jail authorities are not willing to provide insulin, an elected CM is having to file a petition in court to get access to insulin,” said senior AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said the people of Delhi want Mr. Kejriwal to receive appropriate treatment and for this, his treatment in Tihar Jail should be done by the panel of doctors of AIIMS.
The scrutiny regarding Mr. Kejriwal’s blood sugar levels began when he moved a petition in a Delhi court for consulting his doctor thrice a week about his fluctuating sugar levels and for administering insulin to him in jail. The ED claimed in court that he was trying to increase his blood sugar level to try and seek bail on medical grounds or be moved to a hospital. The court has reserved its verdict for April 22.
