In a letter addressed to Dilip Walse Patil, Maharashtra home minister, the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM) has demanded that 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy should be immediately shifted to a good hospital in view of his fragile health.
Signed by JMM’s Bharat Bhushan Choudhary, Elina Horo and Siraj Dutta, said, the Jesuit priest, who is currently in Taloja jail following his arrest on October 8, 2020 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the Bhima Koregaon case, despite the fact that he “spent his entire life fighting for Adivasi rights and the rights of the underprivileged”, currently suffers from “fever, cough and a running stomach.”
“Stan Swamy is a Parkinson’s disease patient with severe tremors in both hands”, the letter states, adding, “As a result, he has trouble drinking from a glass, taking bath and washing clothes on his own. He also has serious hearing problem and needs hearing aid for both ears. He was operated twice for hernia in the recent past.”
Referring to a phone called one his colleagues received from Stan on May 14, where he “shared that he was unwell”, the letter, the copy of which has been sent to Udhav Thackeray, chief minister, Maharashtra, says, “For the first time since his arrest, he said that he was feeling very weak and fragile.”
“Following that he was too weak even to speak on the phone and his condition had to be described by others”, the letter states, adding, “He was given antibiotics by the ayurvedic doctor of the jail. The medicines did not help much. He is yet to be tested for Covid. He has also not yet received his first vaccine shot.”
Pointing towards “reports of rising Covid cases in the Taloja jail”, the letter says, “In this situation, Stan should be immediately shifted to a good hospital and given adequate medical treatment. It will be really helpful if he is shifted to a hospital like Holy Family or Holy Spirit where his Jesuit colleagues can take care of him.”
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