By Ashish Srivastava
New Delhi, Jan 26 (IANS) The health of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad who was admitted to AIIMS after a lung infection, is gradually improving, Dr Rakesh Yadav, who is supervising the team looking after him, told IANS.
"His condition has improved slightly from the day he was admitted," Yadav added.
The doctor informed that Lalu had developed pulmonary edema, a condition when excess fluid gets collected in the lungs. "Fluid retention occurred in his lungs which led to pneumonia infection," he said.
However, the overall condition of the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief is said to be stable now. "He is able to talk and sit for a while. While still being kept in the Intensive Care Unit, he is not on ventilator or oxygen support," Yadav said.
No outsiders are allowed to meet him at present. "The coronavirus infection is still in effect and we have prohibited visitors to meet him," the doctor added.
The former minister is kept in the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) of the hospital under the supervision of Rakesh Yadav, a noted cardiologist of the hospital who has treated Lalu earlier as well.
A CICU ward is specially meant for patients suffering a heart attack, unstable angina, cardiac dysrhythmia and (in practice) various other cardiac conditions that require continuous monitoring and treatment.
The 72-year-old Lalu Prasad was admitted in AIIMS on Saturday. He was brought to Delhi by an air ambulance after his health deteriorated while undergoing treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) Hospital in Ranchi where he was admitted earlier. His wife Rabri Devi and sons Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav accompanied him to the hospital.
An eight-member team of RIMS had referred him to AIIMS for treatment. RIMS Director Dr Kameshwar Prasad had told IANS that Lalu Prasad had contracted pneumonia and had trouble breathing.
The former union minister has been in jail since December 2017 after being convicted in a fodder scam. He has served most of his jail sentence in Jharkhand at the RIMS hospital.