NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday said Tihar authorities have asked for a diabetologist from AIIMS for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s treatment, which the party said negates their claims that all medical facilities are available for the CM in the jail.
AAP produced before the media a letter dated April 20 written by the Director General of Prisons to AIIMS requisitioning a diabetologist.
Addressing a press meet, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “The DG (Prisons) wrote a letter yesterday asking for a diabetologist from AIIMS. This shows that the BJP-led central government and jail administration were lying till now that they have specialist doctors. Till Saturday, these people were saying they have all the specialists, insulin. Everything is available in jail.”
“He is a chief minister, he is a severe diabetic and is saying every day to show him to a diabetologist, I need insulin... an elected Chief Minister is not being given medicine,” he said.
Bharadwaj quoted Kejriwal: “I have diabetes for 20 to 22 years, I have been on insulin for 12 years, I take 50 units of insulin daily. If the sugar level of a patient taking insulin increases, it can be controlled only with insulin.”
Tihar administration responded to Bharadwaj’s charge, saying appropriate senior specialists from AIIMS provided consultation to Kejriwal via video conference on Saturday.
“After a 40-minute detailed consultation, Kejriwal was assured that there was no serious concern and was advised to continue with the prescribed medicines, which will be evaluated and reviewed regularly,” a jail official said. “Neither the issue of insulin was raised by Kejriwal, nor was it suggested by the doctors,” the official said.
Objecting to the “deviation” from the standard practice of monitoring blood sugar levels of fasting and post-prandial by relying on readings of random sugar levels, Bharadwaj said there is a set method of testing sugar levels.
“You say how much is your fasting sugar, that is, you wake up in the morning and measure your sugar level. Then, you eat breakfast and after two hours, sugar level is measured. This is a standard method,” he said.
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