The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Grieving Chennai, Tamil Nadu in lockdown; funeral next to MGR memorial
J JAYALALITHAA, the iconic Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, who scorched a lonely, often controversial, road from cinema to an almost mythic political status among her followers, who mastered the art of the comeback despite setbacks electoral and legal, passed away tonight after a 75-day battle for her life.
She had suffered a massive cardiac arrest on Sunday evening at Apollo Hospitals where she was admitted on September 22 with fever and dehydration, shortly after a dramatic win in the Assembly elections.
“It is with indescribable grief, we announce the sad demise of our esteemed Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma at 11.30 pm today,” Apollo Hospitals said in a statement. After her cardiac arrest, she was administered resuscitation (CPR) and ECMO (extra corporeal membrane heart assist device) support within the hour. ECMO is the most advanced treatment currently available internationally. Every possible clinical attempt was made to sustain her revival. However, despite our best efforts, the Honourable Chief Minister’s underlying conditions rendered her unable to recover and she passed away at 11.30 pm today...every member of the Apollo Hospitals family, the clinicians, the nursing and the paramedical staff, have strived hard to provide the highest standards of care...we have worked tirelessly, combining the might of the clinical and technological resources at our command with the spirit of healing and compassion that inspires us.”
Arrangements were being made to take her body to her Poes Garden residence as a city, under police lockdown, broke in grief. A three-day mourning has