A Delhi court has rejected Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s request for daily 15-minute video consultations with his doctor. Kejriwal, who has Type 2 diabetes, had sought the consultations to manage his condition while in judicial custody.
The Rouse Avenue Court, however, has ordered the constitution of a medical panel comprising specialist doctors to determine if Kejriwal needs regular insulin shots. The panel will also prescribe a diet and exercise plan for the 55-year-old leader.
Until the panel is constituted and makes its recommendations, Kejriwal may continue to have home-cooked food, provided it adheres to the court’s instructions. Jail officials will also have to submit a court report every 15 days on Kejriwal’s health.
The court, while sending Kejriwal to judicial custody earlier this month, had allowed him home-cooked food and bottled drinking water.
During today’s hearing, the court directed jail officials to ensure proper medical care for the Chief Minister, including treatment from diabetologists or endocrinologists.
Kejriwal, who was arrested last month in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam, had moved the court last week claiming that Tihar Jail officials had failed to provide him with a regular supply of insulin, a critical drug for diabetics. His party had alleged a ‘conspiracy to kill’ him.
Kejriwal has stated that he has been prescribed 50 units of insulin daily – 28 in the morning and 22 at night – and that he had been ‘deprived of the life-saving drug for 29 days.’
This morning, he said his blood sugar level was between 250 and 320 mg/dl; according to the World Health Organization guidelines, ‘expected values for normal fasting blood glucose concentration are between 70 and 100 mg/dL (or milligrams per decilitre)’.
Sources said Kejriwal has written to the Tihar Jail Superintendent challenging the release of a statement over the weekend that said doctors from the central government-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences had ‘assured (the Chief Minister) there is no serious concern.’
‘I read the statement of Tihar administration in the newspaper. Both statements are false. I am asking for insulin daily… I showed the glucometer readings (three times a day) and told them sugar levels are high…’ he said.
‘AIIMS doctors never said there is nothing to worry about… they said they will respond after looking at the (medical) data and (patient) history,’ the Chief Minister reportedly said.
