Several leaders, including Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and BSP president and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, visited the hospital to enquire about former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's health condition who was admitted to AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) on August 9 after he complained of uneasiness and weakness.
Jaitley has been put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which is used for patients whose lungs and heart are incapable of operating on their own, hospital sources said.
However, the AIIMS administration has not released a single medical bulletin regarding his health condition since August 10.
The 66-year-old leader's health is being monitored by a multidisciplinary team of doctors, the sources said.
Other leaders, including Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, BJP's Satish Upadhyay, Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik, Congress' Abhishek Singhvi and Jyotiraditya Scindia and Air Force chief Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, also visited the hospital on Saturday, they said.
"I visited AIIMS today to enquire about the health condition of former finance and defence minister, and senior BJP leader Shri Arun Jaitley. I met his family and consoled them and prayed to the almighty that he recovers soon," Mayawati tweeted at 01.06 pm on Saturday.
Earlier, President Ram Nath Kovind, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday had visited AIIMS to check on the leader's health.
Jaitley, a lawyer by profession, had been an important part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet in the BJP government's first term. He held the finance and defence portfolios, and often acted as the chief troubleshooter of the government. Jaitley did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election presumably because of his ill-health.
He had undergone a renal transplant on May 14 last year at AIIMS with Railways Minister Piyush Goyal filling in for him in the Finance Ministry at that time. Jaitley, who had stopped attending office since early April last year, was back in the finance ministry on August 23, 2018. In September 2014, he underwent bariatric surgery to correct the weight he had gained because of a long-standing diabetic condition.
