Satyendar Jain’s sugar level drops on third day of hungerstrike

New Delhi: As his hungerstrike at the lieutenant governor’s office entered the third day on Thursday, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain’s sugar level dropped to nearly half of the normal. Doctors were regularly monitoring his condition.

Mr Jain is on an indefinite hunger strike at Anil Baijal’s office since Tuesday, a day after he, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia began their sit-in there. On Wednesday, Mr Sisodia joined Mr Jain in the hungerstrike.

“We are constantly monitoring his (Mr Jain’s) situation. This morning, his vitals were checked and blood level had gone down to 47 units (mg/dL). A normal person should have 90-100 units of it. His blood pressure reading was 110/70, so that is ok,” Director General of Health Services Kirti Bhushan said. The DGHS said a medical team is regularly monitoring his health condition. “The team has a doctor, a nurse and a helper, and is visiting the minister three time a day — morning, afternoon, night — to keep a constant watch on his health,” he said.

Mr Bhushan said Mr Jain’s pulse reading too dropped to about 64 against a normal of 72., but as long as it is above 60, it is fine. “However, ketone level (more than 2 units) has been detected in his body. In a normal condition, ketone should not be found, but when the fat in the body is used, it ends up in urine,” he said.

The Chief Minister on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention to end the IAS officers’ “strike” and claimed that Mr Baijal was doing “nothing” to break the impasse.