Haryana Home Minister Vij on oxygen support after condition deteriorates

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 20

Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij was on Friday put on oxygen support after his oxygen levels dipped in the morning.

Vij had to give a miss to the proceedings of the first day of monsoon session of the state Assembly because of his health condition.

Dr Dhruv Chaudhary, Head of Pulmonary Medicine Department of the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, rushed to Ambala to monitor Vij’s condition, who was put on oxygen support at his Ambala residence.

Vij, who had contracted coronavirus after getting first dose of Covaxine during its human trials, has not been able to fully recover from the after-effects of Covid-19.

His oxygen level suddenly dipped below 80 in the morning.

By the evening, the oxygen saturation had reached 89, but it was still much less of the normal parameters.

When contacted on phone, Vij said that though he had post-Covid complications in the past, he had almost recovered of late.

“On August 13, I had gone to Rohtak to attend the cremation of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s younger brother. While returning, I boarded the chopper with the CM. No doctor had ever warned me against taking a flight. But the low air pressure in the chopper on a high altitude suddenly deteriorated my condition during the 54-minute journey. I started feeling dizzy. When I checked my oxygen level, it was 86. While returning to Ambala from Chandigarh, my oxygen saturation dipped further to 76. Since then, I have been experiencing problem of low oxygen level intermittently,” Vij said when contacted by The Tribune on phone.

Dr Chaudhary said that even before the chopper ride, the minister had started experiencing body aches. He was diagnosed with iron deficiency, too. However, Vij’s condition worsened, since his oxygen level dipped drastically during the chopper journey, Dr Chaudhary said.

He said that the minister had been put on antibiotics and steroid therapy.

“We will monitor his condition for 48 hours and if need be, we will hospitalise him so that he could be kept under constant observation,” said Dr Chaudhary.