Rights activist Irom Sharmila, who broke her 16-year-old hunger strike against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), has been asked by doctors to stay in hospital for a few more days.
“Her health is fine but there is no precedence in medical history of how someone’s body would react if he or she starts eating after 16 years. So she needs to be under medical supervision,” doctors at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital said.
It was at this hospital where the ‘Iron Lady’ of Manipur was kept under detention and forcibly nose-fed till she broke the world’s longest-running fast on August 9.
Doctors said the 44-year-old, who broke the strike with a dab of honey, is now taking semi-solid food like oats, besides boiled rice and milk shakes and juices. “Her body is responding well. But we have to be very slow because her digestive system, which was inactive so far for absorbing solid food, will not be able to immediately start accepting all food,” they said.
A team from different specialities like gastroenterology and gynaecology are monitoring her health.
Ms. Sharmila’s brother Singhajit said she would stay at the hospital till her health improved. Babloo Loitangbam, one of her associates, said when she broke her fast some locals were angry. “There was a meeting with the activists of the Sharmila Kanba Lup, where she explained she has chosen a different path but her goal is the same — repeal of the AFSPA. Things were then sorted out,” he said. — PTI
