Arun Jaitley in AIIMS, bulletin says he is stable

Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was on Friday admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after he complained of weakness and breathing trouble.

The 66-year-old BJP leader, who had a kidney transplant in 2018, was admitted to the Cardio-Thoracic Centre of AIIMS in the morning where doctors said he is in a stable condition.

"Arun Jaitley was admitted to AIIMS today morning. He is currently undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit under the supervision of a multi-disciplinary team of doctors. At present, he is haemodynamically stable," a medical bulletin from AIIMS said on Friday night.

Haemodynamics refers to the forces the heart has to develop to maintain blood flow through the cavities of the heart and all the blood vessels Stable blood flow provides a steady supply of oxygen to all tissues and organs in the body. If a patient has stable haemodynamics, according to a medical website, it means that the force at which the heart pumps blood is stable.

Doctors said he will be under monitoring for at least the next 24 hours. His heartbeat and blood pressure is under control, they said.

In the evening, there was a stream of high-profile visitors to the hospital, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which raised concerns about the condition of Jaitley. Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, BJP working president J P Nadda and cricketer-turned-MP Gautam Gambhir were among the visitors.

Jaitley, a four-term MP who is now out of action, had declined to be part of Narendra Modi's Cabinet this time due to health reasons and had not contested the 2019 elections too. Earlier this January, he had left for a "medical check-up" in the United States in January this year.

A tall leader of the BJP who played key roles in the A B Vajpayee government, he was the main trouble-shooter for the BJP inside and outside Parliament. During 2014-19, he was the Leader of House of Rajya Sabha.