Delhi Court Orders Medical Board to Assess Arvind Kejriwal's Health Amid Insulin Controversy

New Delhi: While declining Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea for video consultation with his doctor in the presence of his wife, a Delhi court on Monday directed AIIMS to constitute a medical board to examine whether he needs insulin to check his blood sugar levels and said the home-cooked food that he was consuming was different from the diet chart prepared by his doctor.

Special judge for CBI and ED cases Kaveri Baweja passed the order which directed that all necessary medical treatment be provided to the AAP supremo.

Mr Kejriwal had alleged that he was not being administered insulin in jail leading to an “alarming” rise in his blood sugar levels. In a letter to the superintendent of Tihar Jail, he said that he has been asking for insulin every day and that the AIIMS doctors had never said there was no reason to worry about his diabetic condition.

The chief minister alleged that the Tihar administration issued a “false and misleading” statement under “political pressure”. Delhi minister Atishi shared Mr Kejriwal's letter on her X handle. The chief minister rejected the jail administration’s claim that the issue of insulin was never raised by him in his consultations with the doctors.

“This is false. I have raised the issue of insulin for 10 days, every day, multiple times. I showed my high sugar levels to every doctor who came to see me. I showed them that there were three peaks in the sugar level every day -- between 250-320,” he said in his letter.

The court ordered the AIIMS director to constitute a medical board comprising an endocrinologist/diabetologist to examine Mr Kejriwal. The board will decide whether he should be administered insulin and also take a call on the diet and exercise plan he needs to follow, the court said. It said that there should be no deviations from the diet plan that was prescribed by the medical board.

In its order, the court said the detailed list of food he consumes “categorically shows that the food items which are being provided as home-cooked food are quite different from the diet prescribed by his own doctor”.

The court also responded to a nonchalant remark by the AAP leader's lawyer that “Aam aadmi aam nahi khayega to kya mushroom khayega?”. The judge said mushrooms had been prescribed by Mr Kejriwal’s own doctor, whereas there was no specific recommendation for eating mangoes.

“This court is also unable to fathom as to why the family of the applicant has been sending various articles against his medically prescribed diet, i.e mango, sweets, aloo puri, etc”, the judge said.

The court said it was apparent that the jail authorities have a well-developed infrastructure for providing requisite health care to inmates. “This court also finds itself in agreement with the submissions that the applicant cannot be treated differently from other inmates as the laws/jail manual must apply equally to all,” the judge said.

The judge said the medical board was further requested to prescribe a diet and exercise plan, if required, for the applicant considering his medical requirements and relevant data regarding his vital statistics. The medical board may, as and when required, also physically examine the applicant in jail," the judge said.

The judge asked the medical board to submit its report to the court at the earliest specifying as to whether Mr Kejriwal required insulin to control his blood sugar levels.

The AAP chief's letter to the superintendent comes a day after the Tihar administration issued a statement stating they had arranged his video conference with senior specialists from AIIMS during which neither “the issue of insulin was raised by Mr Kejriwal, nor was it suggested by the doctors”.

“I also showed them that my fasting sugar level was in the range of 160-200 every day. Almost every day, I demanded insulin. Then how could you make such a statement that I never raised the issue of insulin?" Mr Kejriwal wrote, contradicting the Tihar's administration's statement that the AIIMS doctors assured that there was no “serious concern” regarding his sugar levels.

The Tihar administration, in the statement, said senior specialists from AIIMS provided consultation to Mr Kejriwal during the video call on April 20. “After a 40-minute detailed consultation, he 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 had said.

The video conference was organised by the Tihar Jail administration on a request by the chief minister's wife, Mrs Sunita Kejriwal. Apart from a senior specialist from the hospital, medical officers of Tihar jail were also on the call.