Lalu Prasad Yadav shifted to AIIMS Delhi as health worsens

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and fodder scam accused Lalu Prasad was airlifted to New Delhi by an air ambulance on Saturday evening following recommendations of the RIMS medical board.

The eight-member medical board suggested shifting the Bihar leader to a higher institute of medical science for better treatment in the afternoon. The process of taking him to Ranchi airport in an ambulance creating a green corridor and the arrangement of an air ambulance was done in a few hours including the approval of the jail authorities.

He will be admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) as decided by his family members in consultation with the doctors of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS). The AIIMS management was reported to be ready with the necessary arrangements to admit Lalu on his arrival.

His son and Bihar opposition leader Tejaswi Yadav said, “He needs specialised treatment and it was a collective decision to shift my father to AIIMS, New Delhi.”

Jharkhand ministers Satyanand Bhokta and Badal Patralekh were seen coordinating with the RIMS management and Birsa Munda jail authorities.

His wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, his daughter Misa Bharati and a doctor from RIMS would accompany Lalu during the transit..

Earlier, sharing the eight-member medical board's recommendation with the media Lalu's doctor Dr Umesh Prasad said the board took the decision unanimously to shift the patient to another institute. The decision was taken keeping in view that he needed better treatment, he said.

“He is a VIP patient and we don't have adequate back up here to treat him in case of exigencies,” Dr Prasad said adding that Lalu's condition was stable and there would not be any health hazard to transfer him. “His lungs are functioning properly and the kidney condition was similar,” he said.

Lalu was reported to be a stage-4 kidney patient and his family was keen to see some expert nephrologists. He had developed sudden breathing trouble on Thursday evening that raised an alarm.

The RIMS doctors treating the Bihar leader had confirmed that he had mild pneumonia. His condition was brought under control by late Thursday evening through medication.

The rapid antigen and RCPCR tests conducted on Lalu for Covid-19 also returned negative.

The former Bihar chief minister and Union minister was admitted to RIMS with critical ailments in December 2018. Lalu has been convicted in the fodder scam that rocked his government in the nineties in unified Bihar and is serving jail terms.

The incarcerated Bihar leader has also applied for regular bail before the Jharkhand high court. Several RJD leaders that include former Bihar minister Kanti Singh, a few former RJD ministers of Jharkhand, state unit president Abhay Singh were present when he was shifted.