Almost a month after she was hospitalised, Apollo Hospitals on Friday for the first time said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa ‘is interacting’, a key indicator of improvement in her physical condition.
‘The honourable chief minister is interacting and progressing gradually,’ Director of Medical Services, Apollo Hospitals, Dr N Sathyabhama said in a press release.
- Social activist from Tamil Nadu K R ‘Traffic’ Ramaswamy on Friday moved Supreme Court seeking protection from arrest after a first information report was lodged against him for allegedly spreading rumours about the health condition of Jayalalithaa.
- The activist in his application also sought release of eight persons arrested for allegedly spreading rumours about the chief minister’s health condition.
- A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra agreed to hear the application on October 24, after advocate G S Mani, appearing for Ramaswamy urged the court for urgent hearing.
- Moreover, National Human Rights Commission Chairperson H L Dattu said arrests of people on the issue of rumours over Jayalalithaa’s health may not be an answer and that there are other ways of dealing with it.
She said Jayalalithaa ‘continues to be under treatment and observation for all vital parameters, respiratory support and passive physiotherapy’.
Dr Sathyabhama said the team of experts of the critical care group, senior cardiologists, senior respiratory physicians, senior consultants of the infectious diseases department, senior endocrinologist and diabetologist of Apollo Hospitals, Greams Road, Chennai have been giving treatment and care to her.
‘The nutrition and the essential nutrient intake are being attended to by senior consultants from the dietary team,’ the release said.
In its last medical bulletin on October 10, the hospital had said, ‘Prof Dr G Khilnani, Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, visited Apollo Hospital again on October 9 and 10 and examined Honourable chief minister.’
It had said that Khilnani, part of a three-member AIIMS panel, had discussions with the hospital’s expert panel and ‘concurred with the present line of treatment’ being given to the chief minister.
Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo hospital on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration.
Consultant Intensivist from the United Kingdom Dr Richard John Beale had also examined her and deliberated with the Apollo doctors’ team on her treatment.
Meanwhile, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam spokesperson C R Saraswathy said Jayalalithaa would be ‘back home soon’.
“Amma will be back home very soon. Amma is perfectly all right. She is conscious. She is talking,” she siad, adding that prayers continued to be offered across the state for her well-being.
IMAGE: AIADMK members offer a group prayer for the speedy recovery of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in Coimbatore on Friday. Photograph: PTI Photo
