Lalu's health deteriorates, to be shifted to AIIMS Delhi

Incarcerated Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad's health condition has deteriorated and he has been shifted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi for better treatment, officials said on Tuesday.

A medical board of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi referred him to AIIMS New Delhi, they said.

"RJD chief Lalu Prasad has been taken to Delhi in an air ambulance," Ranchi's Birsa Munda Airport Director Vinod Sharma told PTI.

Dr Vidyapati, who heads a seven-member team of doctors formed by RIMS to treat Prasad, earlier said, "The medical board has recommended that Prasad be referred to AIIMS New Delhi as his condition has deteriorated."

Prasad was sentenced by a special CBI court to five years imprisonment and slapped with a fine of Rs 60 lakh on February 21 after being convicted in the embezzlement of Rs 139 crore from Doranda treasury in the fodder scam.

The court had convicted Prasad on February 15 and pronounced the quantum of the sentence after virtually hearing the arguments.

"Prasad's creatinine level has increased to 4.6, which was earlier at 3.5. Blood sugar and blood pressure have been fluctuating. The sugar level is hovering between 150 and 200 mg/dl," Dr Vidyapati said.

The ebullient politician suffers from multiple ailments, including renal problems.

"His kidney is functioning at 15-20 per cent capacity," Dr Vidyapati said.

Jharkhand IG, Prisons, Manoj Kumar, said, "The order was given to shift Lalu Prasad to AIIMS, New Delhi. As per procedure, the jail superintendent, on basis of medical board recommendations, sought formal permission for shifting the convicted patient to another hospital."

After his conviction in the Rs 139.35 crore Doranda treasury embezzlement case, the fifth and final one against him in the fodder scam, the ailing 73-year-old was lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail and then shifted to state-run RIMS on health grounds.

In jail since December 2017, Prasad served most of his sentence period at the RIMS.

He was taken to All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi in January last year after his health condition deteriorated.