New Delhi:
A Delhi court on Monday rejected the application by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal – a type 2 diabetes patient – for daily 15-minute video consultation with his doctor.
However, the Rouse Avenue court has ordered the formation of a medical panel of expert doctors – which will decide whether the Aam Aadmi Party leader actually needs regular insulin shots or not.
The panel will also prescribe a diet and exercise plan for 55-year-old Arvind Kejriwal.
However, until the panel is constituted and reaches its recommendations, the Chief Minister can continue to serve home-cooked food, as long as he follows the court’s directions. Till that time, the jail authorities will also have to submit a court report every 15 days on Mr Kejriwal’s health. While sending him to judicial custody earlier this month, the court had allowed him home-cooked food and bottled drinking water.
Going back to today’s hearing, and the court directed the jail authorities to ensure that proper medical care is available to the Chief Minister, including treatment from a diabetologist or endocrinologist.
Mr Kejriwal, who was arrested last month in the alleged liquor policy scam, also moved the court last week claiming that Tihar Jail authorities had failed to provide regular supply of insulin, a crucial drug for diabetic patients. The Chief Minister’s party claimed a “conspiracy to assassinate” him.
Read | AAP claims amid ‘Mango’ controversy, ‘plan to kill Kejriwal’ in jail
The AAP leader has said he is given 50 units of insulin daily – 28 in the morning and 22 at night – and he has been “deprived of the life-saving drug for 29 days”.
Read | After AAP’s “Plan to Kill…” claim, Kejriwal’s plea for insulin
This morning, he said his blood sugar level was between 250 and 320 mg/dL; According to World Health Organization guidelines “expected values for normal fasting blood glucose concentration are between 70 and 100 mg/dL (or milligrams per deciliter)”.
Sources said Mr Kejriwal has written to the Tihar Jail superintendent challenging him to issue a statement over the weekend saying that doctors at the central government-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences had assured (the chief minister) that there were no serious concerns. Not there.
He said, “I read the statement of Tihar administration in the newspaper. Both the statements are false. I am asking for insulin daily… I showed the glucometer reading (thrice a day) and told them that the sugar level is high…” He said. .
Read | “Ask for insulin daily”: Arvind Kejriwal’s letter to Tihar Jail authorities
“The AIIMS doctors never said there was nothing to worry… They said they would answer after looking at the (medical) data and (the patient’s) history,” the Chief Minister reportedly said.
Last week the arresting agency, the Enforcement Directorate, opposed Mr Kejriwal’s request on the grounds that previous meetings had been “misused”; The implicit reference was to the Chief Minister issuing instructions to his government – Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj and PWD Minister Atishi – from jail, a practice the opposition BJP has described as unethical.
The ED also claimed that Mr Kejriwal had knowingly eaten high-sugar foods – mangoes and toffees – to increase his blood sugar levels and establish grounds for medical bail. The ED had also argued that the mangoes and toffees in the chief minister’s diet violated court orders.
The agency’s lawyer had said, “The diet chart contains mangoes and sweets…it has been placed before the court. (Mr Kejriwal) is regularly eating food items which are not allowed for any diabetic patient. “
In his argument, Mr Kejriwal criticized the ED for its comments. “It is shocking that the ED (believes) that someone would deliberately cause such a dangerous spike in sugar levels and put his life at risk just to get medical bail.”
Why was Arvind Kejriwal arrested?
The ED had arrested Arvind Kejriwal on March 21 in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam in the national capital. The investigating agency believes that the Chief Minister played a key role in drafting the now defunct policy and demanding bribes in exchange for liquor licenses.
The AAP and Mr Kejriwal have denied all allegations and called the arrests and the case “political vendetta”, as it came just weeks before the Lok Sabha elections.
Read | Kejriwal will have to remain in jail for now, Supreme Court refuses to hear soon
Mr Kejriwal has challenged his arrest in the Supreme Court. However, the apex court has refused to hear it soon. They will now have to wait till April 29, when the court will sit again to hear the ED’s reply.
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