Requested Apollo hospital to take Jayalalithaa abroad for treatment: Panneerselvam

Even as the one-man commission, headed by Justice Arumughaswamy, is still trying hard to make headway into the mystery surrounding former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa’s death, her all-time loyalist O. Panneerselvam stirred up yet another controversy on Wednesday saying that he had requested the Apollo hospital to take Jayalalithaa abroad for better treatment.

Speaking at a public meeting of the ruling AIADMK organised in Theni to protest against the Congress-DMK combine, the deputy chief minister fired a salvo at the hospital in Chennai, where Jayalalithaa was undergoing treatment before she died on December 5, 2016.

“Did you allow us at least once to meet our Amma when she was in the hospital? I asked the Apollo management to take Amma abroad, like America, for treatment. The management asked me if I didn't trust the treatment given by their hospital. The Apollo management said she would get well. Even then, I told them that if she came back to life, everyone would feel good. Otherwise no AIADMK cadre would be able to walk on the road, and the cadres will attack them. I told them as a word of threat. But all in vain,” said Panneerselvam.

Panneerselvam’s statement came at a time when the Arumughaswamy Commission probing Jayalalithaa’s death completes one year. The probe panel, set up on September 24, 2017, has till now summoned over 100 people, including high profile doctors and a few AIADMK leaders. The commission had summoned the AIIMS doctors who were part of the doctors' panel that treated Jayalalithaa and also the doctors and staff members of the hospital. According to sources in the commission, Apollo responded to the commission on September 19, saying it didn't have the CCTV footage recorded during the days of Jayalalithaa’s stay in the hospital. In a short communique, the hospital stated that the recordings get deleted automatically after 30 days.

It may be recalled that Richard Baele, professor of Intensive Care Medicine, who was among the panel of consultant specialists, clarified a few months ago that, “Jayalalithaa’s medical condition was such that she could not be moved. Also when her health condition improved, she herself expressed her wish to continue to be treated in India.”

When asked about Panneerselvam's statement, highly placed sources at the hospital said the AIADMK leader was aware of what had happened and that he had never raised any issue during the 75 days when Jayalalithaa was being treated at Apollo. The sources also recalled that Panneerselvam chose the Apollo hospital for the treatment of his ailing brother. His brother O. Balamurugan was airlifted to Chennai in an air ambulance provided by the defence ministry, leading to a controversy. 

“Taking Jayalalithaa to the US for treatment was not an easy job. Because her condition during the 75 days of hospitalisation was so fragile. This can be understood easily by any saner person if he reads the press statements issued by the Apollo hospital. The sheer number of specialists belonging to various special medicine proves that her condition was extremely serious. I strongly believe even with the material available in the public domain that Jayalalithaa was not in a condition to be transported to the US or any other country for treatment,” said R. Mani, a senior journalist.