The admission of the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa into the Intensive Care Unit of the Sri Jaydeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research here on Sunday turned the State-run facility into a veritable fortress.
Dozens of policemen and private security guards manned every entrance to the centre causing discomfort to regular patients and their relatives.
Tempers ran high and people almost came to blows when the relatives of a patient, who died, were not allowed into the hospital. Relatives of other patients, who were also being prevented from going into the hospital, joined cause with the grieving relatives of the dead man and threatened to bring down the glass door leading into the hospital. The police relented only when they realised that things were happening in full media glare.
However, such incidents repeated themselves several times during the day which saw a string of BJP leaders descending on the hospital.
Minister for Energy and Food and Civil Supplies Shobha Karandlaje was one of the first to visit Mr. Yeddyurappa. Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Home Minister R. Ashok, BJP State president K.S. Eshwarappa, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S. Suresh Kumar, Excise Minister M.P. Renukacharya, Housing Minister V. Somanna, Irrigation Minister Basavaraj Bommai as well as MLAs Belur Gopalakrishna, B.P. Harish, Nandish Reddy and MP P.C. Mohan were some of the prominent persons who tried to meet him.
The former MLA Vatal Nagaraj, a strong critic of the BJP Government, Police Commissioner Jyothi Prakash Mirji and the former Police Commissioner Shankar Bidri too paid a visit to the hospital. But none of them were allowed to enter the ICU.
Pointing out that Mr. Yeddyurappa would be under observation for the next 24 to 48 hours, hospital director C.N. Manjunath said: “As he is pre-disposed with hypertension, hypothyroidism and diabetes mellitus, any signs of discomfort in the chest cannot be ignored. A five-member medical team, including myself and Director of Karnataka Institute of Diabetology K.R. Narasimha Shetty, has been set up.”
He said that according to reports by a private hospital, where the former Chief Minister had undergone MRI a few months ago, blood circulation in a small portion of his brain was reduced (lacunar infarct). “But this is not related to his present condition,” Dr. Manjunath said.
