Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s condition is “very critical” and “grave”, Apollo Hospitals said on Monday, as AIADMK MLAs trooped to the hospital apparently to pick a successor.
In quick succession, Apollo hospital released two statements saying Jayalalithaa, who suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening, was on life support systems. The first of the statement came just after union Health Minister J.P. Nadda claimed that the actor-turned-politician, who has been in hospital since September, was out of danger.
The brief hospital statement said Jayalalithaa “continues to be very critical and is on ECMO and other life support systems”. ECMO or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is a life support system used for patients with life threatening heart or lung problems.
Apollo said she was being treated and closely monitored by experts. Hours later, Apollo tweeted: “Despite our best efforts, our beloved CM remains in a grave situation.”
In between the two statements, Richard Beale from the London Bridge Hospital, who has been regularly consulted by doctors in Chennai, said the situation for Jayalalithaa was “extremely grave”. “I can confirm that everything possible is being done to give her the best chance of surviving (the cardiac arrest),” he added.
On Monday, all AIADMK legislators made their way to the Apollo hospital, which has turned into a virtual fortress with hundreds of police personnel trying to keep at bay the thousands of Jayalalithaa fans.
An AIADMK source said that the MLAs were in hall in the Apollo complex but refused to get into details. With their Chief Minister in hospital, all the MLAs of the ruling AIADMK have been called inside the hospital one by one to sign a statement that says ailing J Jayalalithaa’s trusted lieutenant OP Panneerselvam will be her successor.
Crowds have been gathering outside the hospital from Sunday evening as news of Jayalalithaa’s cardiac arrest spread like a wild fire causing gloom.
