Former Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad admitted to hospital

Former Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad has been admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi after developing pneumonia, late on Saturday evening, officials told IANS.

The RJD chief is kept in the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) of the hospital under the supervision of a team of doctors led by Dr Rakesh Yadav, professor of department of cardiology, the official added.

Lalu Prasad was brought to Delhi by air ambulance after his health condition deteriorated while undergoing treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Hospital in Ranchi.

He is accompanied by his wife Rabri Devi and sons Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav.

Earlier an eight-member team of RIMS had referred him to AIIMS, New Delhi, for treatment.

RIMS Director Dr Kameshwar Prasad was reported saying that he was found to be having pneumonia and trouble in breathing for the last two days.

"At the directive of the jail administration, an eight-member team was constituted by the RIMS to look into the health condition of Lalu Prasad. After reviewing the condition, the team decided to shift him to AIIMS, New Delhi for better treatment," a source in RIMS told IANS.

The Jharkhand jail administration has also given its nod to shift him to AIIMS.

On Friday, Rabri Devi, daughter Misa Bharti, sons Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav reached Ranchi on a special plane after being informed of the veteran leader's deteriorating health. The family met him in the night.

Tejashwi had also met Chief Minister Hemant Soren at his residence during the day to seek cooperation of the state government in making arrangements to take his father to Delhi.

72-year-old Lalu Prasad has been in jail since December 2017 after being convicted for fodder scam. He has served most of his jail sentence in Jharkhand at the RIMS hospital.