DELHI CM ARVIND KEJRIWAL GETS INSULIN SHOT AFTER NOD FROM AIIMS

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been administered insulin for the first time since he was taken to Tihar jail, after instructions from doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) who were appointed to examine the 55-year-old’s health and determine if he needed the drug to control his blood sugar levels, said people aware of the matter, even as a firestorm over his alleged ill-treatment in incarceration continued to play out.

He was given two units of insulin, based on his blood sugar levels, on Monday evening, said officials aware of the matter.

“Good news on Hanuman Jayanti. Finally, the jail administration gave insulin to the Chief Minister for his increasing sugar level,” Delhi cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a post on X.

Also Read | ‘Arvind Kejriwal given insulin in Tihar jail after sugar levels touched 320’: AAP

However, Bharadwaj and other AAP leaders alleged that Kejriwal, a type-2 diabetes patient, was being treated worse than other inmates in the country’s largest prison complex, claims the jail administration dismissed, arguing that the chief minister was subject to the same standards set for other prisoners.

“Today the chief minister of the country’s capital has to go to court even for insulin…Do all prisoners have to spend a week on television and in newspapers debating about insulin?”

Tihar director general Sanjay Beniwal rejected the party’s allegations.

“Why would we deny any patient medicine or treatment? We have insulin available for hundreds of patients across Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini jails. There’s no shortage of any medicine or drug but there needs to be a procedure. We have doctors and specialists who only give specific treatment based on their or the court’s orders,” he said.

A Tihar prison officer also said a jail doctor has now been deployed to monitor Kejriwal’s blood sugar every two hours.

Also Read | HC dismisses plea for Kejriwal’s ‘extraordinary’ interim bail, slaps ₹75k fine

The Delhi chief minister’s health and his alleged ill-treatment in prison have been at the core of a furious row between the AAP and Enforcement Directorate (ED) since the agency arrested the chief minister on March 21. On April 1, he was sent to Tihar, where he is allowed home-cooked food in accordance with a diet prescribed by his doctors.

Kejriwal then approached Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court last week, seeking directions that Tihar authorities administer him insulin and allow daily medical consultation for 15 minutes through video conference due to fluctuations in his blood sugar levels.

To this, ED said the CM was trying to spike his blood sugar levels by eating mangoes and sweets and drinking tea with sugar to create a medical emergency and “obtain sympathetic treatment from the court”.

The AAP convener hit back at these charges, with his legal team accusing prison authorities and ED of depriving him of medication and of lying to the court that he was deliberately eating high-sugar foods to exacerbate his diabetes. Kejriwal, in a letter to the Tihar jail superintendent on Monday, also said that he was denied the drug despite a spate of requests.

Beniwal said all 20,000 inmates in the prison were subject to the same rules.

“Every jail has a visiting judge who monitors all the inmates’ health needs, if where they live is clean and if they have access to legal redressal. They listen to the inmate’s grievances as well.”

“Around 1,000 inmates have diabetes… we are managing all these patients every day,” he added.

On Monday, special judge Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue court turned down Kejriwal’s request to consult with his private doctor via video conference, even as she mandated that Tihar jail authorities continue providing the chief minister the medical care necessary and ordered the AIIMS chief to set up a medical board to examine the chief minister’s blood sugar levels and whether he needed insulin.

Delhi minister and senior AAP leader Atishi said Kejriwal was administered insulin “because of Lord Hanuman’s blessings and the struggle of the people of Delhi.”

“Even during this period of struggle, the blessings of Bajrang Bali remain on all of you,” she posted on X.

In a press conference, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh alleged that Kejriwal was being tortured in jail.

“The lack of access to insulin may have damaged Kejriwal’s health, kidney and liver,” he said.

ED last week, during the hearing in the Rouse Avenue court, submitted Kejriwal’s medical records till April 17 and showed that his blood sugar levels were largely well above normal and had been trending upwards.

The records said that on random testing, Kejriwal’s blood sugar levels went from 139mg/dL on April 1 (when he was moved to Tihar) to 202mg/dL on April 10, 280mg/dL on April 12, 276mg/dL on April 14, 243mg/dL on April 15. The levels dipped to 130mg/dL on April 16 and 181mg/dl on April 17. Doctors said a normal blood glucose level on a non-fasting test is between 125 and 140mg/dL.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not respond to requests for comment on the matter on Tuesday, but has maintained that the chief minister has been trying to create sympathy and pave the grounds for his release on medical grounds.

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2024-04-23T22:36:56Z dg43tfdfdgfd