Having closely watched the medical treatment given to JP as well as other developments inside and outside the PGI, I myself had serious doubts that the irreversible damage to JP’s kidneys was caused by a failure in diagnosing the ailment in time despite the PGI having a full-fledged and well-equipped nephrology department, headed by Professor KS Chugh, a well-known and competent nephrologist. Whether it was intentional or not, only a thorough professional probe would have unveiled.
The intriguing part was that JP was never referred to Dr Chugh during his entire period of detention in the PGI. Dr Chugh came into the picture only after JP’s release on 12 November 1975, primarily for the purpose of appending to the discharge report. We had been receiving daily medical reports on JP from the PGI from day one, and there was never a mention of a kidney problem. Even the medical report on 12 November had no mention of any major kidney ailment, though there was a reference to ‘renal status’:
Though he (JP) is as yet weak, but this feeling, according to him, is less than before. We also feel that his condition, in general, is a little better. His aversion to food continues, though he has taken a small breakfast and a small lunch. He did not vomit today. His renal status is as yet below par, but his cardiac and diabetic state is well controlled. In general, he was more alert and responsive today.
Sd/-
Dr. P.L.Wahi (Professor of Cardiology)
12 November 1975
Replying to a question by Rabi Ray that came up in Rajya Sabha on 8 January 1976, as to when JP’s kidney trouble was detected, Dr Chuttani had replied:
When he was in detention at Chandigarh, the urinary infection reappeared on November 8, 1975, accompanied by kidney trouble precipitated by this infection.
Yet there was no mention of this in the daily medical reports received by us on 8, 9, and 10 November. The report on 11 November, signed by Dr HN Khatri, just mentions, ‘His (JP’s) renal status is being re-evaluated’. Only in the ‘final diagnosis’ contained in the discharge report prepared on 16 November was there this entry:
Diabetes mellitus with peripheral neuropathy. Nephropathy with chronic renal failure.
What is more intriguing is that as early as 27 September, the PGI doctors had identified the cause of JP’s acute abdominal pain as ‘intestinal colic’. This pain had continued on and off for over one-and-a-half months. Yet there was no proper examination of JP from the kidney damage point of view, and the concerned specialist was not even called in!
There have been widespread suspicions and allegations about the failure of JP’s kidneys in the PGI, ranging from poisoning, deliberate damage, drug-induced damage, and intentional non diagnosis. Even JP had doubts about this score. Dr Alva was categorical in his indictment of the diagnosis and treatment of JP at the PGI. Dr Mani’s observations only add to these doubts and suspicions. On the face of it, Dr Chuttani’s and Dr Aikat’s attempts at ‘defending the undefendable’ do not appear to be convincing.
I am not a medical practitioner, and I cannot make a value judgement on the adequacy or inadequacy, efficacy or inefficacy of the medical diagnosis and treatment given to JP while in detention. But as ‘JP’s custodian in jail’, I was responsible for his safety and well-being, which affected the whole nation. This was all the more so since I have been seeing him very frequently. Therefore, I am morally bound to state my position in this vexing controversy that has a strong bearing on India’s political culture and medical ethics.
My position is this: There was non-diagnosis of JP’s serious ailments and lack of follow-up when there was strong suspicion of kidney failure around mid-September. This contention of mine is borne out from the ‘circumstances’ listed below:
- JP was an ailing old man with a medical history of sciatica from adolescence days and diabetes as he was ageing. He had undergone surgery for an enlarged prostate at the Christian Medical College, Vellore. This might have got complicated at PGI
- Non-reference of JP to nephrology specialists in PGI itself till the time he was released
- Dr Chuttani’s resentment at the visit by Dr Bhatia, a cardiologist from AIIMS, to examine JP
- As per medical documents scanned by Dr Alva’s Commission, doubts about renal failure had come up on 15 September itself. Yet this was not followed up. Instead, JP was shifted to the guesthouse precisely when he needed close attention and specialist treatment
- Dr Chuttanis repeated efforts to manage our minds with statements that JP’s ailment was psychological and not physical
- Admitted over-medication of JP
- Coincidences and happenings clearly indicate sabotage of reconciliation efforts, including the serious one attempted by the Prime Minister through Lord Brockway
- Sanjay Gandhi’s ambition to become Prime Minister while in his thirties and his coterie’s assessment that JP was the only major hurdle to this ambition
- The despicable drama that preceded the release of JP and the desperate attempts to delay his departure from Chandigarh and Delhi
- Dr Chuttani’s feeble and unconvincing attempts to deflect the main issue and to put the blame on the Jaslok Hospital doctors who, in fact, saved JP from the jaws of death and gave him a new lease of life
The fact of the matter is that JP’s kidney failed, and there appears to be a purpose behind it. In the event, it is difficult to repudiate
JP’s charge that he was ‘released only when the Indira government was convinced that I would not survive for more than a few days’. But due to certain swift moves, JP escaped from the jaws of death and survived not only for a ‘few days’ but for four more years and succeeded in liberating the country from the autocrats and restoring it to democracy. And Sanjay Gandhi never became Prime Minister.
But the mystery of JP’s kidney failure continues. Even the Sangh Parivar, who claim JP as ‘their own’, have not bothered to solve the mystery despite being in power at the Centre for four terms! This includes Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who elevated JP to the levels of Bishmapitamah on the bed of arrows and Christ on the Cross, and Narendra Modi, who ‘venerated’ JP as his ‘icon’! So be it. However, the fact remains that JP indeed paid a very heavy price for defeating the Emergency, which he did.
This excerpt from Emergency and Neo-Emergency: Who Will Defend Democracy by MG Devasahayam has been published with permission from The Browser.