Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal administered insulin for first time in Tihar jail after spike in sugar level

NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was administered insulin on the advice of AIIMS doctors on Monday evening inside Tihar jail after a sudden spike in his blood sugar level. This is the first time he was provided with the insulin after his arrest by Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, 2024.
"Kejriwal was given two units of low dose insulin on Monday evening on the advice of AIIMS doctors", a Tihar official said.
His blood sugar level reading was found to be 217 around 7 pm, following which the doctors at Tihar looking after him decided to give him the insulin, the official said.
AIIMS specialists, during a video conference with the chief minister on April 20, had advised Tihar doctors that insulin could be given to him if his sugar level crosses a certain level, he added.
Sharing the information on its official X handle (formerly Twitter), Aam Aadmi Party said, "Finally BJP and its jail administration came to their senses and gave insulin to CM Kejriwal in jail."

"CM Kejriwal's sugar level had reached 320. This has been possible only due to the blessings of Lord Hanuman and the struggle of the people of Delhi. We have succeeded in delivering insulin to our chief minister." it added.
The development comes a day after a Delhi court rejected his plea seeking direction to Tihar jail authorities to administer him insulin and allow him to consult his doctors through video conferencing daily for 15 minutes.
Moreover, Kejriwal also wrote a letter to superintendent of Tihar jail and accused the jail administration of not providing him with insulin despite repeated requests.
The chief minister alleged that the Tihar administration issued a "false and misleading" statement under "political pressure".
"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 3 peaks in the sugar level every day between 250-320," he said in his letter.
Meanwhile, Tihar Jail Director General (Prison), Sanjay Beniwal said, "There is a fixed time for giving food and through a court order, he gets home food. If it takes 5 to 7 minutes till the time it reaches him after checking, it is bound to happen. Around 900-1000 inmates have diabetes. I am managing between 900-1000 patients every day out of the inmate population. For me, these are not issues but if people raise it for political issues I do not enter into that."
"20,000 people live in the jail everyone some issue- real and perceived. We have to arrange for their redressal as well. Every jail has a visiting judge, who monitors all the health needs, if where they live is clean and if they have access to legal redressal. They also listen to the inmate's grievances as well," he said on chief minister's letter to the jail superintendent.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in connection with a money laundering probe relating to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.