Amma On Respiratory Support, Needs Longer Hospital Stay: Doctors
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa needs “a longer stay in hospital” and is “making gradual progress,” said doctors today who are attending to the 68-year-old politician.
The update, provided this evening, confirmed that Ms Jayalalithaa remains on respiratory support and is being treated, including by a UK specialist, for lung problems.
Ms Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospital on September 22. At first, her party, the AIADMK, said she was being treated for fever and dehydration. Its publicly-shared forecasts for when she is to leave hospital have repeatedly been proven wrong, escalating speculation of how unwell Ms Jayalalithaa is.
Till recently, large gaps in the information shared on her health added to the uncertainty.Yesterday, three doctors from Delhi’s AIIMS hospital have joined the Chennai doctors attending to the former movie star who is one of the country’s most powerful and popular politicians.
Ms Jayalalithaa’s opponents last week demanded that a photograph be released of her to confirm that she is well enough to remain in charge of the state. Governor C Vidyasagar Rao who visited Ms Jayalalithaa in hospital a few days ago has reportedly advised the party that a daily bulletin on her health be shared nightly by 8 pm.
Outside Apollo Hospital in Chennai, hundreds of fans of Ms Jayalalithaa have gathered in a mass vigil and say they will not go home till they are certain that she is better.The AIADMK has filed police cases against four people for misreporting the party chief’s health on social media.
Three doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, have come to Chennai to treat chief minister J Jayalalithaa who is undergoing treatment at the Apollo Hospitals on Greams Road.
There was no press release from the hospital or the government, but officials in the Union health ministry confirmed that doctors including pulmonologist Dr G C Khilnani, cardiologist Dr Nitish Nayak and anesthesiologist Dr Anjan Trikha had left for Chennai. “Some left on Wednesday evening. We cannot say more at this point,” the official said.
Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital+ on September 22 with complaints of “fever and dehydration.” On Sunday , the hospital said the chief minister had infection, and that a team of doctors, including Dr Richard Beale from the London Bridge Hospital in the UK, were giving her antibiotics to treat her condition.
Dr Beale left the city on Sunday. On Monday, the hospital said she was on respiratory support and was being treated for infection with antibiotics and allied clinical measures.
Tuesday’s bulletin said she continued to show improvement. There was no medical bulletin from the hospital on Wednesday . Among the many public prayers conducted for the health of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa , was a religious procession organised at her constituency RK Nagar on Monday .
