Vijayawada, December 20: Armed with a local court order, the doctors in the Government General Hospital here late last night ”forcibly ”administered fluids to Vijayawada Congress Lok Sabha Member Lagadapati Rajagopal, Mylavaram TDP Legislator Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, party former Mayor P Anuradha and three others in the presence of the police as their health condition rapidly deteriorated following their fast-uno-death since the last few days.
The Third Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate last evening gave orders to this affect and directed the police to provide treatment to the fasting leaders by ‘force’.
The doctors cleared the ward where the TDP leaders were kept by sending away the supporters, and administered the fluids.
A large number of TDP activists led by Nandigama MLA Tangirala Prabhakara Rao and MLC Y V B Rajendra Prasad raised slogans against the attempts to treat Mr Umamaheswara Rao against his wishes, but they were immediately arrested and whisked away to the Machavaram police station. Mr Devineni even though resisted while administering the fluids, the doctors carried on with their job.
The court intervention came in the wake of doctors kept saying throughout the day that the MLA could slip into coma anytime if treatment was not given immediately and the sodium level of Mr Rajagopal decreasing and potaium content in his body increasing.
Earlier Krishna District Collector Peeyush Kumar and GGH Superintendent Paladugu Rambabu too persuaded the MLA to accept the treatment. Mr Rajagopal was on a fast from the last six days while the rest including the MLA and others fast entered the seventh day yesterday.
——Agencies