Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa was readmitted to the critical care unit (CCU) of Chennai's Apollo Hospital after she endured a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening. Her condition balanced out later, sources said, however on edge supporters raced to the hospital and got through police blockades.
The 68-year-old AIADMK supremo was readmitted to the CCU not long after the gathering reported that she had been given a physician's approval by a group of therapeutic authorities. "Doctors from AIIMS went by the hospital on Saturday, and in the wake of inspecting her wellbeing, they imparted the uplifting news to us that she has totally recuperated," AIADMK representative C Ponnaiyan told columnists before in the day.
Here are the updates:
9.45am: Union health minister JP Nadda says the Centre is in regular touch with Apollo Hospital and the Tamil Nadu government.
“We have sent a team from Delhi AIIMS to Chennai. They (Apollo Hospitals) needed doctors and we have sent them that. Government is doing whatever is possible for us. We hope and pray for Jayalalithaa’s speedy recovery,” Nadda tells ANI.
9.48am: “Jayalalithaa, who suffered cardiac arrest (on Sunday evening), had surgery this morning. She’s fine now,” AIADMK spokesperson CR Saraswathi tells NDTV.
• 9.38am: Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan and BJP Rajya Sabha MP La Ganesan reach Apollo Hospital to enquire about CM Jayalalithaa’s health
• 9.10am: Heavy police deployment on Greams Lane as more supporters gather outside Apollo Hospital
• 8.30am: All roads leading to the Apollo Hospital on Greams Lane blocked by Chennai traffic police to avoid any congestion. Thousands of supporters already outside the hospital
• 7.00am: Huge police barricading as the number of supporters grows outside Apollo Hospital. Amma still in critical care unit. CRPF teams put on high alert.
• 6.50am: Tamil actor Sarathkumar arrives at the hospital to meet the Tamil Nadu CM. “With all blessings she will come out of this situation. She is being treated by the medical team,” the actor tells ANI.
• December 5 (Monday), 6am: Supporters stay put outside the Apollo Hospital all night praying for Jayalalithaa. Tearful eyes amid high police security seen all over.
• 11.54pm: DMK leader MK Stalin tweets: “I sincerely hope that the treatments being given to the TN CM prove successful and she recovers completely.”
• Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao reaches Apollo Hospital in Chennai to inquire about CM Jayalalithaa’s health.
• Additional police personnel were deployed at Greams Lane outside the hospital, which eventually filled up with AIADMK supporters.
• Tamil Nadu police were on standby to avert any law and order problems though reinforcements had not been sought from the Centre till midnight. The party maintains that Amma – as the six-time chief minister is reverently known among her supporters – was completely fine.
• Tamil Nadu governor C Vidyasagar Rao arrives in Chennai around 11pm and discusses Jayalalithaa’s health situation with home minister Rajnath Singh. President Pranab Mukherjee and political pioneers the nation over wish the chief minister a speedy recovery
10.59pm: Jayalalithaa was put on an extracorporeal membrane heart-assist device and was being treated by a team of critical care specialists, Apollo Hospital tweets.
“Dr Richard Beale from London has also been consulted and he has concurred with the line of treatment by our cardiologists and pulmonologists,” the hospital adds.
• December 4 (Sunday), 10.58pm: “The Honourable Chief Minister of Tamilnadu who is undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospitals,Greams Road, suffered a cardiac arrest this evening, ” tweets Apollo Hospital