The chief minister of Tamil Nadu and one of the strongest politicians in the country, Jayalalithaa, passed away last night after undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital in Chennai for 73 days. Due to fever and dehydration, she was admitted to the hospital on September 22. She then had a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening, which was the cause of her death. According to NDTV, her body will be placed at Rajaji Hall for people to pay their last respects and a 7-day state mourning and 3-day holiday has been declared in Tamil Nadu. With an acting career that began at the age of 15, she made her foray into politics when she joined AIADMK in 1982. Since, then, Jayalalithaa went on to become the most revered politician in India with most of her supporters calling her Amma. Here’s the statement given by the hospital –
It is with indescribable grief, we announce the sad demise of our esteemed Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Puratchi Thalaivi Amma at 11:30 pm today (5.12.2016).
Our Honourable Chief Minister Selvi J Jayalalithaa was admitted in 22. 9. 2016, with complaints of fever and dehydration and underlying co-morbidities. The Honourable Chief Minister responded well to the multi-disciplinary care in the critical care unit and subsequently recovered substantially to being able to take food orally. On this basis, Honourable Chief Minister was shifted from the Advance Critical Care Unit to High Dependancy Unit, where her health and vitals continued to improve under the close monitoring by our expert panel of specialists.
Unfortunately, the Hourable Chief Minister suffered a massive cardiac arrest on the evening of the 4th December 2016, even while our intensivist was in her room. The Honourable Chief Minister administered resuscitation (CPR), and provided ECMO support with the hour. ECMO is the most advance treatment currently available internationally. Every possible clinical attempt was made to sustain her revival. However, despite our best efforts, the Hounourable Chief Ministers underlying conditions rendered her unable to recover and she passed away at 11:30 PM today (5.12.2016).
Every member of the Apollo Hospitals family, the clinicians, the nursing and paramedical staff have strived hard to provide the highest standards of care to our beloved Chief Minister. We have worked tirelessly, combined the might of the clinical and technological resources at our command with the spirit of healing and compassion that inspires us. We join the nation and the people of the state of Tamil Nadu in deeply mourning her loss.