Anna Hazare's doctor in Maharashtra appeals him to call off fast

Far from New Delhi's crowded Ramlila Maidan, a doctor who has been treating Anna Hazare since the 1980s, is worried over the social activist's falling health and has appealed to him to end his fast that entered the tenth day on Thursday.

"Both the Government and Anna should find a middle ground (on Lokpal issue) and he should call off the fast because certain irreversible changes are taking place in his body due to the prolonged fast," Dr Rafiq Syed said.

Syed, who said Hazare is otherwise "totally fit and rarely needs medication", met the 73-year-old Gandhian in Delhi on August 20. "If needed, I will go there again and try to persuade him (to end fast)."

"I have known Hazare since 1981, when I started a clinic at Parner (11km from Ralegan Siddhi, the activist's native village in Ahmednagar district).

"He does not have any complications, except for the occasional cough and cold. He doesn't take medicines and on some occasions, he has come to me is for treatment of muscular pain or gastroenteritis," the physician said.

There are natural effects of fasting and these are being seen in the case of Hazare, who is without food since August 16 and has lost over six kgs, Syed said.

Whatever the doctors attending him decide on his treatment, Hazare should allow that, he added.