The day after, she picks up Kanshi Ram’s Rs 7.5-lakh tab

Though the hospital administration denied that the VIP patient had been under pressure to clear his dues, a doctor treating the BSP leader said the Kanshi Ram family had been sent ‘‘polite reminders.’’

‘‘There was no pressure from the hospital to clear the dues immediately. We treat everybody as a gentleman unless proved otherwise,’’ said Dr (Brig) R K Gupta, medical director of Batra Hospital.

According to hospital rules, patients have to clear their bills every three days. Kanshi Ram was admitted to the hospital on September 15 in a state of semi-coma after he suffered a massive brain stroke.

The BSP leader is staying in what the hospital calls a ‘diplomat’s room’, where a day’s stay costs around Rs 8,000. Apart from the room rent, he has expenses of about Rs 5,000-8,000 every day.

His doctors said the condition of the 73-year-old BSP leader has stabilised but he will have to spend at least a month more at the hospital.

‘‘He was completely paralysed when admitted but now he is fully conscious of his surroundings. His systemic functioning has improved and his organs are functioning properly,’’ said Dr M L Sindwani, senior consultant of medicine and consultant physician of Kanshi Ram and Mayawati since 1990.

His treatment now includes physiotherapy, speech therapy and nerve regeneration.‘‘He can take a walk for about 15 minutes every morning, has started eating with his own hand, does his daily ablutions on his own and can recognise everybody who comes to meet him,’’ Sindwani said.

‘‘He is a politician who needs to be on a move. He cannot be discharged till he has fully recovered. He should be able to do things completely on his own before we discharge him,’’ said the doctor.