Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa was shifted back to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Apollo Hospitals in Chennai after she suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening. She is on extracorporeal membrane heart assist device, said Apollo Hospitals in a tweet late on Sunday night. The hospital also said that Dr. Richard Beale, was consulted again and he concurred with the line of treatment.
Initial reports suggested that the Chief Minister was put on life support system though hospital sources maintained that her condition was “stable”. A late evening press released issued by Apollo Hospitals COO Subbiah Viswanathan said, the Chief Minister “suffered a cardiac arrest this evening. She is being treated and monitored by a team of experts including cardiologists, pulmonologist and the critical care specialists.”
Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao, who holds additional charge of Tamil Nadu, air-dashed to Chennai from Mumbai following the development and visited the Apollo Hospitals at midnight. He spent about 10 minutes at the hospital taking stock of the situation.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Mr.Vidyasagar Rao on Sunday evening and enquired about health of Ms. Jayalalithaa. As of 11 pm, no request by Tamil Nadu to send Central forces, said a senior MHA official to The Hindu . Director General of CRPF K.Durga Prasad said that he has not received any instructions yet from the Home Ministry to rush to Chennai.
Following news of the Chief Minister's ill health, violence broke out at the hospital entrance on Sunday night. Housing Minister Udumalai Radhakrishnan, PWD Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Electricity Minister P. Thangamani, Transport Minister M.R. Vijaya Baskar were among those present at the hospital.
Ms Jayalalithaa, who was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals on the night of September 22 , with “low grade fever and dehydration”, was subsequently under intensive treatment from specialists and moved to a private ward only on November 19.
Several State Ministers, the Chief Secretary and top bureaucrats rushed to the hospital while Tamil Nadu Director-General of Police T.K. Rajendran who was in Madurai for a review meeting air-dashed to Chennai, advancing his scheduled trip. An emergency meeting was called at the police headquarters late on Sunday.
Police officers mobilised
The entire police strength, including companies of the Armed Reserve and Tamil Nadu Special Police, was being mobilised as a precautionary measure.
In a fax message to all ADGPs, zonal IGPs, Commissioners, DIGs and SPs, the Director General of Police instructed them to mobilise all officers in the rank of Superintendent of Police and equivalent personnel to report to their respective Districts at 7 a.m. on Monday. “They should report in full uniform with their vehicles for law and order bandobust duty until further orders,” he said.
Though no formal request was made yet, companies of the Central Reserve Police Force in Tamil Nadu and neighbouring States were put on alert, the sources said.
London doctor consulted
Earlier following her hospitalisation, besides doctors at the Apollo Hospital, Dr Richard John Beale, expert in lung injuries and intensive care management, United Kingdom and specialists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, were part of the treatment protocol.
Earlier this evening an AIIMS expert team had confirmed that the Chief Minister had recovered after over two months of hospitalisation, AIADMK said.
