V.K. Sasikala’s relative K.S. Sivakumar, who coordinated Jayalalithaa's treatment, on Monday told the commission of inquiry looking into her death that the former Chief Minister had trusted Apollo Hospitals.
Maimoona Badsha, the lawyer for Apollo Hospitals, told journalists that Dr. Sivakumar said that it was Jayalalithaa's decision to be taken to Apollo.
She said that Dr. Sivakumar told the commission that he had complete faith and trust in Apollo Hospitals and that nothing more could have been done to save Jayalalithaa's life.
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Monday’s examination — and subsequent cross-examination by lawyers for V.K. Sasikala and Apollo Hospitals — was Dr. Sivakumar’s fifth appearance before the commission.
Dr. Sivakumar, a plastic surgeon, later said that he had submitted a list of 22 doctors to the Justice (Retd.) A. Arumughaswamy Commission. The doctors from various hospitals, including Apollo, had treated Jayalalithaa between October 2014 and September 2016.
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N. Raja Senthoor Pandian, the lawyer who appeared for Ms. Sasikala, told journalists that Dr. Sivakumar had submitted the former CM’s blood pressure readings as evidence. These readings, he said, were made by Jayalalithaa using a glucose monitor attached to her finger.
Dr. Sivakumar also submitted screenshots from a WhatsApp group, in which the doctors who treated Jayalalithaa during 2014-2016 were members.
Going abroad
Mr. Pandian said Dr. Sivakumar had told the commission that no doctor had told him during the CM’s hospitalisation that she had to be compulsorily taken abroad; taking Jayalalithaa abroad had only been an option.
On Monday, the commission was also informed that the four-member team of All India Institute of Medical Sciences doctors who visited Jayalalithaa at Apollo Hospitals on December 3, 2016, a day before her cardiac arrest, advised against performing “invasive cardiologic investigations or interventions.”