New Delhi:
President Ram Nath Kovind will on Friday visit ailing BJP leader and former finance minister Arun Jaitley at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Jaitley, who was admitted to the AIIMS on August 9 after he complained of uneasiness and weakness, has been undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU).
Meanwhile Health Minister Dr Harshvardhan has reached AIIMS.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and other top party leaders had visited him to inquire about his condition.
Jaitley is still in the hospital's ICU and is critical, but haemodynamically stable, sources said earlier. A hemodynamically stable patient has a stable heart pump and good blood circulation.
In May this year, Jaitley was admitted to AIIMS for 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 presumably because of his ill-health. 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.
In September 2014, he underwent bariatric surgery to correct the weight he had gained because of a long-standing diabetic condition.
