Incarcerated Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad will be tested for Covid-19 for the second time this week after three of his attendants at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) tested positive, doctors said on Monday.
Prasad, who is admitted in the paying ward of the State-run hospital, tested negative for Covid-19 on Sunday. However, as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), he will be tested again on the basis of contact tracing, said in-charge of Covid-19 task force, Dr. Prabhat Kumar. “Ideally, we will have to test him again on the basis of contact tracing,” said Kumar.
Dr. Umesh Prasad, who is treating Lalu at RIMS, said that such frequent tests were not needed as Lalu has already tested negative once. However, the SOP had to be followed, he admitted. “As far as I know, his swab samples were not collected on Monday. They might be collected later,” said Dr. Prasad.
Two of Lalu's three Coronavirus-infected attendants have been put in home quarantine, while one is undergoing treatment at RIMS, doctors said. Earlier this month, an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) deployed for Lalu's security had tested positive for Covid-19.
Meanwhile, arrangements made for the former Bihar Chief Minister at RIMS has kicked up a political storm in Jharkhand with the BJP accusing the government of providing additional facilities to Lalu.
BJP legislative party leader Babulal Marandi had recently addressed a letter to Chief Minister Hemant Soren highlighting that 18 rooms in the paying ward of the hospital were booked for Lalu at a time when Covid patients were not even getting beds for treatment. Marandi had asked Hemant to intervene in the matter.
A CBI court in 2018 convicted Lalu in a fodder scam case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.89 lakh from the Deoghar treasury from year 1991 to 1994. A month later, he was convicted in another fodder scam case and sentenced to five years of imprisonment.
He was admitted in the cardiology wing of RIMS in the same year after he complained of discomfort while serving imprisonment in the Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi. Since then, he has been undergoing treatment at the hospital. In 2018, he was referred to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi from where he was later released and sent back to Ranchi.
Seventy-three-year-old Lalu has had a history of medical conditions. In August 2014, he underwent two major heart surgeries — one to replace an aortic valve and the other to repair the aorta, at Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai. He has since been under medications.
He has also had four episodes of perianal abscess, an infection in the rectum which may lead to formation of fistula, doctors said. Currently, he is under medication for hypertension, diabetes and heart.