Jayalalithaa Is Fine, Can Leave Whenever She Wants To, Says Apollo

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's mental functions are absolutely normal and she can leave for home as and when she wants to, Apollo Hospitals said on Friday, adding that she continues to recuperate in the ICU to avoid any infection,

Jayalalithaa who was admitted to the hospital on September 22 after she complained of fever and dehydration had been treated for infection, with respiratory support, among others, by specialists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; and from London.

Her fans and supporters had been ardently praying for her healing and well being for some time now. Their prayers seem to have been answered as doctors are declaring her to be in good health.

According to Apollo Hospitals Chairman Pratap C Reddy, Jayalalithaa is 'living beautifully without ventilator, but respiratory support was being given to her periodically to ensure that her lungs don't collapse'.

Asked by reporters when Jayalalithaa could resume her official responsibilities, Reddy said-

Responsibilities at that level is to guide and direct. I suppose that she can do well even now. She lives beautifully without ventilator but that has been kept so that the lungs should not collapse. Only for that purpose it is used. She is sleeping normally, eating normal food and increased high-protein diet that her body needs.

Her mental functions, I can assure you, are absolutely normal, he added. She was in ICU to keep her infection-free, not to get exposed to any infection, he said.

Pratap Reddy explained that 'even when we get fever for 10 days and take all those antibiotics for 10 days, our resistance is low. So it is normal sense for us to see that she is now in a place where the restrictions are there so that she won't get infection.'

Meanwhile, party Spokesperson Nanchil Sampath said that Jayalalithaa will return home in a few days.