india

Updated: Jul 28, 2019 07:47 IST

Health complications easily develop with high profile people when they land in jails and this is evident when one looks into the past 10-year history of Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail where over a dozen of VIP inmates suffered illness and got themselves shifted from jail to hospital.

The latest example of this is Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), chief Lalu Prasad, 71, who has so far spent 17 months out of 19 in hospital and still has not recovered. He is currently admitted in the paying ward of the state’s premiere hospital Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, under a tight security manned by as many as 42 police personnel.

Inspector General (IG), prison, Virendra Bhushan said, “RIMS director sends Prasad’s health report every month, but none of the reports declared him fit and stable. Once we get a positive report, we would immediately shift him to the jail.”

The former Bihar chief minister has been serving jail term since December 23, 2017, after his conviction in three separate fodder scam cases one after another (he got bail this month in one of these cases). But, only after two months, he had developed health complications.

Prasad was first shifted to RIMS and then to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He was referred back to RIMS after AIIMS declared him fit in May, 2018.

Soon, Prasad got parole to attend his elder son’s wedding. He was then enlarged on provisional bail granted by the High Court for advance treatment at a Mumbai based hospital. He returned to RIMS in the end of August, 2018. Since then, he is under treatment at RIMS where he is admitted in paying ward equipped with air conditioner and other facilities.

Though Prasad has been suffering from many diseases, the primary concern is his ‘Type 2’ diabetes and hypertension.

Senior doctor DK Jha, who is treating the RJD chief said, “Prasad has been suffering from 15 diseases. The prime concern is his uncontrolled diabetes with high dependence on insulin. He is a chronic kidney patient, as the organs were found functioning 50% only. Besides, other major concern is his irregular heartbeats. His immune system is also on a weaker side as he had suffered skin and urine infections on six occasions in the past.”

“We send his health report every Friday to senior superintendent of police and the jail authorities,” Dr Jha said.

Earlier in 2010-12, state’s former water resource minister Kamlesh Singh, facing disproportionate asset case lodged by the CBI, had undergone a prolonged treatment in custody for more than a year in RIMS. Besides Singh, a slew of other former ministers and legislators including Enos Ekka, Bhanu Pratap Shahi, Madhu Koda, Dhullu Mahto and Chandrashekhar Dubey were also treated in custody at RIMS.