A team of doctors from SSKM Hospital has suggested some changes in the diet and the sleeping posture of Partha Chatterjee, former education minister now lodged in Presidency jail, senior officials in the prisons department said.
On Saturday, a team of doctors visited Chatterjee at the correctional home to assess the condition of his health — the first time since the arrested leader had complained of several ailments, including swelling of his feet and a nagging hip pain within days of being lodged in jail.
The team comprising senior doctors from the department of orthopaedics, cardiology, medicine and dentistry spent nearly three hours in Chatterjee’s cell examining his health and noting down all the health complaints of the former minister.
The visiting team of doctors left after informing the jail superintendent that it would soon send a formal prescription detailing medicines that Chatterjee would require along with a proposed diet for him.
“The doctors have suggested that a part of the pain in the hip could be because of Chatterjee’s weight and that there was a need for him to lose weight to stay fit,” said a senior official of the prison department.
“They have also suggested changes in his sleeping posture and the way in which he sits for several hours reading books,” the official said.
Saturday’s visit came days after the superintendent of the jail hospital visited Chatterjee and took note of some of his chronic ailments, including diabetes, blood pressure and back pain before suggesting some medicines, officials in the prison department said.
Later, the superintendent had drawn up a report suggesting that there was a need for a team of specialist doctors to visit the arrested leader in jail custody and assess his health condition.
The chief medical officer of health of South 24-Parganaswas instructed to arrange for a team to visit Chatterjee.
“Based on the recommendations, necessary steps would be put in place for his well-being,” the official said.
“If required, we might even consider sending one of the physiotherapists with the home’s hospital to attend to Chatterjee’s pains,” he said.
While Chatterjee is lodged at the Presidency Correctional Home, Arpita Mukherjee, his close associate according to the investigating agencies, is in a cell at the Alipore Women’s Correctional Home.
Sources in the prisons department said Mukherjee was struggling to come to terms with life in a cell, sharing space with at least 16 other inmates in a hall.
“She has been complaining about how no one from her family, including her mother, is visiting her during her stay at the correctional home,” said the official.
“So far, Mukherjee’s counsels have been the only visitors to her,” the official added.