Chennai/Nagpur: Multiple sources in Chennai have confirmed that the condition of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha has improved significantly in the past two days and she has been off the ventilator during the day. She is on respiratory support only for some time in the night as a precautionary measure.
It is expected that if the CM continues the same pace of progress, she could be out of hospital soon. However, she would still need significant rest, care and physiotherapy for at least two months. It is not clear whether Apollo doctors would prefer Jayalalitha to rest under their supervision at the hospital or send her home by the end of October.
Doctors, who are visibly relieved now, were very worried earlier this week. In fact, the hospital in consultation with Dr Richard Beale and the team of specialists from AIIMS had reportedly decided that if there is a further deterioration in Jayalalitha’s health, she will be shifted to either AIIMS in New Delhi or to a hospital abroad.
That possibility has now been firmly ruled out. “She will come out like a tigress,” said a source.
AIADMK leaders who have access to information from inside the Critical Care unit at Apollo Hospitals also confirm that Jayalalithaa is conscious. “She is also aware of what is happening around her,” says CR Saraswathi, spokesperson of the AIADMK.
The next step would be to slowly move her away from the bed, where she has been for more than three weeks now, and make her sit on a chair. Passive physiotherapy that Apollo’s medical bulletins say the CM is undergoing, is part of the treatment to help her do this.
If her progress continues the hospital would be ready to send her home by end of the month. A hospital is always a riskier place for a critically ill patient as chances of acquiring secondary ‘hospital borne’ infections are more and such infections are much harder to fight.
Next few days will decide if this step can be taken.
