Baba Ramdev's condition stable

Baba Ramdev was admitted to a Dehra Dun hospital’s ICU on the seventh day of his fast today after initial reports of worsening health but his condition improved by evening with doctors describing him as “stable”. “Ramdev was admitted to the ICU immediately after he was brought to the hospital,” said Dr S.L. Jethani, medical superintendent of Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences where the yoga televangelist is being treated. Other doctors said he had been administered glucose. Ramdev was shifted to the hospital, 25km from his Patanjali Yogpeeth ashram in Haridwar, after his blood pressure plummeted. “His blood pressure is 104/70, which is low and pulse rate is 58 per minute, which is also low. We found his health going down. It is worrisome,” chief medical officer Yogesh Chandra Sharma said this morning.

Dr Asha Mathur, Uttarakhand’s director-general of health services, said “an infection has also been found in his urine”. A close aide of Ramdev, Swami Sampoornand, claimed the yoga practitioner had gone into an “unconscious state”. A Patanjali spokesperson claimed the decision to shift Ramdev to hospital was taken by Ramesh Pokhriyal, the chief minister of the state’s BJP government whose party has been backing the yoga practitioner’s agitation against black money and corruption. But many supporters at the ashram were unhappy. They clashed with police as he was being wheeled into an ambulance, triggering a commotion that prompted the ashram authorities to intervene and resolve the standoff. The doctors attending to Ramdev this morning had recommended hospitalisation on a “priority basis” and tried to persuade him to break his fast, but he rejected the advice. By evening, though, the worries about his health appeared to have receded. “Ramdev’s condition is stable. His liver functions are slightly derailed but his kidney is functioning normally. He is conscious. His BP is 110/78 and pulse rate is 60. Ramdev is talking and there is no problem. His health is improving,” Dr Jethani, the hospital superintendent, said.