Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation row: Ready for inquiry, says Apollo chief

Chennai: Apollo Hospitals chairman Prathap C Reddy said that former Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha was brought to the hospital in a critical state and all efforts were made to restore her health as she was suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome.

He was reiterating the statement made by Apollo Hospitals vice chairperson, Preetha Reddy, who had said, on Friday, that former CM was brought to the hospital in a breathless state and all efforts were made to restore her health.

When questioned about releasing health bulletins that said Jayalalitha only complained of ‘fever and dehydration’, Apollo chairman said the hospital was advised to not issue any statement stating seriousness of her health fearing law and order problems due to public outrage.

“People loved her so much and had they known about her critical state, it would have been difficult to control public agitation,” he said.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event, Mr Reddy said adequate treatment was given to Jayalalithaa at the hospital.

“After being brought to the hospital in a critical state, former CM showed significant progress in her state of health. All efforts were made to save her, however, her health deteriorated due to acute respiratory distress syndrome.”
Many questions were raised against the hospital management for not being transparent on the treatment given to the late chief minister.

The former CM was treated at the hospital for 75 days before she passed on December 5 last year. A special commission is probing the circumstances leading to the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

“As far as the inquiry in the case is concerned, we did not receive any summons from the commission. However, the hospital and doctors do not fear any summons or inquiry as we did our best to restore her health but unfortunately could not save her. We will co-operate with authorities for the inquiry if called upon to do so,” Prathap Reddy told reporters.

Medical drones can transport organs

Telemedicine and medical drones are the emerging trends in futuristic healthcare technology and can prove miraculous in case of body transplants. Medicos discussed the scope and deployment of drones and telemedicine in providing health care services at International Workshop on Futuristic Healthcare Technology, held at Apollo Children's Hospitals on Saturday.

The 2-day workshop strives to bring in an interdisciplinary engineering practice to develop affordable and innovative medical and healthcare devices. The workshop also advances in preservation techniques in liver transplantation and optimal transplantation of vital organs like heart, lungs liver and kidney.

Medicos say that the deployment of drones for medical purposes in our country would create a viable means to leap over infrastructure inadequacies in serving every segment of people with emergency and quality healthcare.

Mentioning the typical contemporary examples of interdisciplinary technological advancements Dr K. Ganapathy, director, Apollo TeleHealth Services, said that medical drones for organ transport and emergency medical supplies were a great achievement. “Drones are an efficient, cost-effective and potentially life-saving method of transporting blood samples, products and organs and may one day be as commonly used as ambulances or helicopters,” he said.

Apollo TeleHealth Services also signed an MoU with Innova Space, an international organisation that helps nations develop space programmes and telehealth initiatives.

Speaking at the workshop, Dr Prathap C. Reddy, founder & executive chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, said, “Tamil Nadu leads the country in organ transplants and introducing droneswill be yet another landmark. Use of innovative, affordable and good quality medical technologies will provide access to better and appropriate technologies to match the health needs of people.”