Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa was shifted back to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Apollo Hospitals in Chennai after she suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening. She is on extracorporeal membrane heart assist device and is being treated by a team of expert doctors and critical care specialists, said Apollo Hospitals in a tweet late on Sunday night. The hospital also said that Dr. Richard Beale, was consulted again and he concurred with the line of treatment.

Initial reports suggested that the Chief Minister was put on life support system though hospital sources maintained that her condition was “stable”. A late evening press released issued by Apollo Hospitals COO Subbiah Viswanathan said, the Chief Minister “suffered a cardiac arrest this evening. She is being treated and monitored by a team of experts including cardiologists, pulmonologist and the critical care specialists.”

Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao, who is holding additional charge of Tamil Nadu, arrived at the hospital.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Tamil Nadu Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao on Sunday evening and enquired about health of Ms. Jayalalithaa. As of 11 pm, no request by Tamil Nadu to send Central forces, said a senior MHA official to The Hindu. Director General of CRPF K.Durga Prasad said that he has not received any instructions yet from the Home Ministry to rush to Chennai.

Following news of the Chief Minister's ill health, violence broke out at the hospital entrance on Sunday night. Housing Minister Udumalai Radhakrishnan, PWD Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Electricity Minister P. Thangamani, Transport Minister M.R. Vijaya Baskar were among those present at the hospital.

Ms Jayalalithaa, who was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals on the night of September 22, with “low grade fever and dehydration”, was subsequently under intensive treatment from specialists and moved to a private ward only on November 19.

Several State Ministers, the Chief Secretary and top bureaucrats rushed to the hospital while Tamil Nadu Director-General of Police T.K. Rajendran who was in Madurai for a review meeting air-dashed to Chennai, advancing his scheduled trip. An emergency meeting was called at the police headquarters late on Sunday.

Police officers mobilised

The entire police strength, including companies of the Armed Reserve and Tamil Nadu Special Police, was being mobilised as a precautionary measure.

The Director General of Police has ordered the mobilisation of all officers in the rank of Superintendent of Police as well as police personnel of other ranks (Enforcement, CB CID, Economic Offences Wing, Crime Wing). They have been asked to report to their respective District SPs/ Commissioner of Police at 7 am on Monday. They have been ordered to report in full uniform with their vehicles for law and order bandobast duty until further orders.

Though no formal request was made yet, companies of the Central Reserve Police Force in Tamil Nadu and neighbouring States were put on alert, the sources said.

London doctor consulted

Earlier following her hospitalisation, besides doctors at the Apollo Hospital, Dr Richard John Beale, expert in lung injuries and intensive care management, United Kingdom and specialists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, were part of the treatment protocol.

Earlier this evening an AIIMS expert team had confirmed that the Chief Minister had recovered after over two months of hospitalisation, AIADMK said.

What is ECMO?

● ECMO stands for Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation

● ECMO is used as a life support system in some patients who suffer a cardiac arrest — it is used as a rescue therapy when the patient is found to be unresponsive to conventional CPR measures

● An ECMO machine works by draining the blood from a vein, adding oxygen and removing the carbon dioxide. It also warms the blood and then returns it to the artery and in some cases pumps the blood through the body. This allows the blood to bypass the heart and lungs.

● Specifically, ECMO is resorted to in situations where it can be rapidly implemented and where the attending medical personnel believe that the suspected cause of the cardiac arrest is potentially reversible

(With R. Sujatha, Dennis S. Jesudasan and T.K. Rohit)

(This article was first published in The Hindu Online edition)

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