Apollo doctors said that initially, Jayalalithaa was able to communicate with them. (File Photo)
Highlights
- Jayalalithaa's doctors detail her illness and treatment
- "Want to dispel rumours" say doctors at Chennai's Apollo Hospital
- Her collapse at the end was unexpected, say doctors
A team of doctors including a UK specialist who treated former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa after she was hospitalised in Chennai
shared the details of her illness and how they attended to her. Doctors at Apollo Hospital said they wanted to
"dispel the rumours" that have been swirling about the death on December 5 of the 68-year-old politician, lovingly referred to as "Amma" or mother by lakhs of supporters.
Their interaction with reporters comes as Ms Jayalalithaa's party has decided that her live-in aide, VK
Sasikala, should take over as the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Asked about the timing of their press conference, the doctors said "this was when the government facilitated it."
Among them was
Richard Beale, a critical care specialist specialist, who said that Ms Jayalalithaa "spoke to me about the food and TV programmes she liked, the rehabilitation and my children." Explaining that she mouthed words and used signs, he said that at one point, he told the Chief Minister, "I'm in charge." She quickly retorted, "No, I'm in charge." She also reportedly indicated that she did not wish to travel to London to be treated, a prospect that the doctors mooted briefly but did not favour.
"We are doctors, not policy makers," said the doctors, when asked by reporters about why information about Ms Jayalalithaa was released sporadically during her lengthy hospital stay. Professing that she was given "the best treatment," the doctors said that she was treated for respiratory illness and died of
a "witnessed cardiac arrest" after an infection or sepsis affected her organs.
Doctors said: "When she initially came, she was drowsy, and interacted for a week" and that when Governor C Vidyasagar Rao visited her for the second time, she gave him a thumbs up.
Ms Sasikala was by the politician's side throughout. When Ms Jayalalithaa died,
she performed her last rites at Chennai's Marina Beach in a funeral attended by thousands and broadcast on television.
As Ms Jayalalithaa deteriorated, Apollo's medical bulletins - urged regularly by the Governor - did not keep pace with the rumours that caused much distress among supporters across the state, some of whom travelled hundreds of kilometres to keep vigil outside Apollo Hospital.
Hours before she died, local news channels misreported her demise, causing unrest and violence.