Jaya recovering well, has begun talking: Partyman

CHENNAI: Senior AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan said on Wednesday that Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa was making good progress and there was no cause for any concern.

“Amma has begun talking to people. She spoke to Dr Richard Beale from England and thanked him for taking good care of her,” Ponnaiyan told HT.

Jayalalithaa may need to spend 10 more days in the hospital and might be advised a fortnight of bed rest leader, the AIADMK leader said adding that he was in regular touch with Dr Beale.

“She had a lung infection and because of that she had breathing trouble. That is why she was being given respiratory support, which is a normal medical procedure. She has responded well to the treatment,” he added.

The AIADMK chief was admitted to Chennai’s Apollo Hospital with high fever and dehydration on September 22 but news of her treatment has been tightly controlled with cryptic health bulletins adding to the many rumours flying around.

The last bulletin on Jayalalithaa’s health condition was issued on October 10 by the hospital and was endorsed by the state government that distributed it through its official news dissemination machinery, the DIPR.

In its earlier bulletins, all that the hospital said was Jayalalithaa was responding well to treatment and in the last bulletin it informed that the CM was being constantly monitored and was under observation. Even after 9 days, the Apollo Hospital and state government have maintained silence about the chief minister’s health.

The former finance minister said that nothing much should be read into the absence of health updates from Apollo Hospital.