Diabetic inmate’s sister struggles to get him treated

PATIALA: Call it apathy of jail officials or the lack of medical facilities inside Punjab jails, a sister of a 43-year-old inmate lodged at Patiala jail has been struggling for getting him properly treated inside the jail.

The Rajpura-based inmate Parveen is a chronic diabetic patient, and has been lodged in Patiala jail since July. He was booked under sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, after police claimed to have recovered around 400 narcotic tablets from his possession. The chemical examination report of the recovered tablets is yet to come.

Parveen’s elder sister Anju Sehgal, who met the inmate recently inside the jail, came to know about his deteriorating health condition. She moved the local court and filed litigation in August this year to get her brother proper medical treatment inside the court.

“The local court on August 14 and then again on August 17 asked the jail authorities to submit the status of the medical report of the jail inmate. The latter failed to comply with the orders. The court then asked the family to produce the earlier medical records based on which the court ordered on August 20 that the patient should be treated properly and in accordance with the rules. However, the court again had to pass compliance orders on August 28 and once again instructed the jail authorities to provide accurate medical treatment to the said patient,” said the counsel to Anju Sehgal.

Anju said, “When my brother was nabbed by police, he was undergoing treatment as he is highly diabetic. Earlier, he had undergone treatment for his damaged pancreas at PGI, Chandigarh. He was not getting proper treatment inside the Patiala jail and had even fainted a few days ago. Parveen was not even transferred to the jail hospital.”

However, jail superintendent Rajan Kapoor said the patient was being properly treated in the jail hospital by the doctors and was being provided with the insulin injections too. “We have all the medical facilities including a refrigerator to store the insulin injections or other medicines. We have also submitted our reply in the court on August 31.”