Amid reports of VIP treatment, AAP MLA discharged from hospital, sent to Patiala jail

Legislator Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra was discharged from Patiala’s Rajindra Hospital on the recommendation of a three-member board of doctors constituted on June 13.

Patiala

MLA Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra had been in air-conditioned wards of Government Rajindra Hospital since May 11.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, 61, was on Saturday sent to the Patiala Central Jail, days after reports surfaced that he was getting VIP treatment at the Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala for over a month.

The MLA was discharged from the department of urology on the recommendation of a three-member board of doctors constituted by the Rajindra Hospital authorities on June 13.

The directions by the hospital administration were issued after the media reported on Gajjanmajra’s month-long stay in the air-conditioned (AC) wards of the hospital instead of the jail since May 11.

Constituting the bord of doctors, the hospital administration said that hereafter doctors will have to seek the recommendation of the board to admit any jail inmate. Moreover, no inmate would be allowed to prolong the admission for more than seven days without the approval of the board of doctors. “If any prisoner is allowed hospitalisation beyond seven days without the approval of the board of doctors, then the head of the department where the inmate is admitted will be solely responsible (for this anomaly),” read the direction issued by the officiating medical superintendent.

Gajjanmajra was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a ₹40-crore bank fraud case on November 6, 2023. He was taken to the hospital on May 11 after he complained of uneasiness and was admitted to the cardiology department till June 6 and after he was discharged from here, the MLA was admitted to the urology department.

Principal-director, Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital, Dr Rajan Singla said the AAP MLA was discharged on Saturday evening on the recommendations of the three-member board of doctors.

Patiala Central Jail officials said that Gajjanmajra reached the jail premises around 7pm.

Dr Harbhupinder Singh, head of the urology department, where the AAP MLA was admitted till Saturday, refused to comment on the issue. Dr Darshanjit Singh Walia, one of the members of the board, said: “Four cases of jail inmates were put up before the board. We have sent our report to the medical superintendent for further action.”

The hospital authorities are yet to respond to reports of alleged prolonged overstay (36 days) of the AAP MLA at the medical institute.

People familiar with the matter said no major surgery or medical procedure was performed on him during his stay at the hospital. The urology department, where Gajjanmajra was admitted between June 7 and 15, had earlier said that he had Grade-2 prostate enlargement. The hospital authorities are tight-lipped over the MLA’s stay at the cardiology department from May 11 to June 6 and the line of treatment given to him during this period.