Tamil Nadu CM shifted to special room from ICU

Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa, who had been undergoing treatment at the intensive critical care unit of Apollo Hospitals for the last 57 days, was shifted to a special room (high dependency intensive care unit) on Saturday, leading to celebration among party cadres and functionaries.

Party cadre who gathered outside the hospital on Greams Road danced, distributed sweets and shouted slogans like “long live Puratchi Thalaivi” in joy. The leader admitted to the hospital on September 22 was shifted to the room, a tweet from the AIADMK website confirmed. The tweet said, “Puratchi Thalaivi Amma shifted from ICU to normal ward in Apollo Hospital today.”

The room is a personalised one which would have the facilities of an intensive care unit, including respiratory support.

According to hospital sources, shifting to the room marks an improvement as it denotes stability. Patients in intensive care unit would be under round the clock monitoring as their key parameters would keep fluctuating. A patient will be normally shifted to a private room only after ascertaining that their parameters are stable.

Arrangements were made from the morning to shift the chief minister to a personalised room, which would have the facilities of an ICU, including respiratory support, according to sources. Besides, dieticians would have a major role in private rooms, indicating that the chief minister has begun taking food.

Sixty-eight-year-old Tamil Nadu chief minister was admitted to the hospital on September 22 with complaints of “fever and dehydration.” She was later put on respiratory support and treated with antibiotics for infection and lung congestion. She was given passive physiotherapy.