Reports say Jayalalithaa died on Dec 5, no wrong medications: Tamil Nadu govt

Tamil Nadu government on Monday cited Apollo hospitals and AIIMS reports to deny that the health complications of late J Jayalalithaa due to wrong medication and said she passed away on December 5 after a massive cardiac arrest.

Listing multiple factors as the cause of her death, Apollo Hospitals said that late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had several medical problems. The Tamil Nadu goverment on Monday released the treatment summary of Apollo hospital and the reports of AIIMS doctors.

Against the background of suspicions into circumstances surrounding her death and demand for a probe, both reports said that she was given the best medical care.

They said Jayalalithaa had multiple medical problems even before her hospitalisation.

Read | AIIMS hands over medical report of Jayalalithaa to Tamil Nadu government

“The late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa passed away at 11.30 PM on December 5, 2016,” the reports said.

Stating that “certain insinuations” had been made that administration of “wrong drugs” over a period of time prior to her hospitalisation had led to “health complications”, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan denied it in an official release in Chennai.

“The medical reports indicate that except for corticosteroids administered for atopic dermatitis, the late Chief Minister was only taking oral hypoglycemic and anti-hypertensive drugs to control pre-existing diabetes mellitus and hypertension,” he said.

In the wake of suspicions related to circumstances under which she was hospitalised on September 22, 2016, the reports said she was admitted that day at around 10 PM. When the ambulance went to her residence, they found her “breathless with low oxygen saturation, resulting in drowsiness.”

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The reports said Jayalalithaa suffered a massive cardiac arrest on December 4 while an intensivist was present at the ICU in Apollo Hospitals in Chennai.

Radhakrishnan told reporters in New Delhi after receiving the report by AIIMS doctors that there “is no basis to the speculation which has been circulated in the media” on Jayalalithaa’s treatment.

To end these speculations, the medical report by AIIMS doctors has been received “from the Government of India at our request”, he said.“It is a very self-explanatory report and we have not held back anything,” Radhakrishnan added.

The official statement quoting the reports here said Jayalalithaa was administered resuscitation and provided ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrance Oxygenation) support after the cardiac arrest.

“Every possible clinical attempt was made to sustain her revival as per prescribed medical protocols,” the statement said, quoting Radhakrishnan. 

Radhakrishnan said a team of doctors, including experts from Apollo and AIIMS, assessed the situation. It was clinically concluded that there was no heart function and also no neurological improvement, denoting futility of life support.

Hence, after following all procedures, the position was conveyed to senior ministers and political leaders - O Panneerselvam (former Chief Minister), Health Minister Vijayabhaskar, Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, and AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala, who asked the medical team to act as per the protocol.

Radhakrishnan said though medical practitioners are bound to not reveal details of patients, it was done, “given the need to put at rest needless speculation on the circumstances surrounding the hospitalisation, treatment and sad demise” of Jayalalithaa.

Apollo hospitals listed “ventricular fibrillation, infective endocarditis and acute respiratory distress syndrome,” as the cause of Jayalalithaa’s death.

The report said she had a history of medical problems, including diabetes and obesity.

AIIMS doctors, in their report, said she was fully conscious on December 3, 2016, before she suffered the cardiac arrest which led to a deterioration in her condition and that she passed away on December 5.