Amid reports of former finance minister and BJP leader Arun Jaitley’s health deteriorating, President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, to enquire about his condition.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey were also present during the President’s visit to the hospital.
66-year-old Jaitley, who was admitted to the AIIMS on August 9, has been in the hospital’s ICU since then as he is critical but haemodynamically stable, which meant he has a stable heart pump.
After Friday, the day he was admitted to the hospital, the AIIMS had not issued any bulletin on Jaitley’s health condition.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and other top BJP leaders had visited the hospital the same day to inquire about his health.
Jaitley was admitted to the cardiology department at 10 am on August 9 “for a medical check-up” and is being monitored by a team comprising an endocrinologist, a nephrologist and a cardiologist.
The next day, after Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu visited AIIMS to enquire about Jaitley’s health, his office had said that the former minister was responding to treatment.
A lawyer by profession, Jaitley had been an important part in Narendra Modi’s Cabinet during his first tenure as prime minister. He held the finance and defence portfolios, and often acted as the chief troubleshooter of the government.
Jaitley did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections owing to his ill-health.
Arun Jaitley has been suffering from multiple health conditions, including diabetes and high blood pressure.
He had undergone renal transplant on May 14 last year with Piyush Goyal filling in for him in the finance ministry at that time. Jaitley, who had stopped attending office since early April 2018, was back in the finance ministry on August 23, 2018.
Earlier this year, Jaitley underwent treatment for soft cell sarcoma, a type of cancer that affects soft tissues of the body, including fat, muscles and blood vessels.
In September 2014, he underwent bariatric surgery to correct the weight he had gained because of a long-standing diabetic condition.