Jayalalithaa all set to return home, shifted to special room from ICU

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was on Saturday shifted from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to a normal ward of the Apollo Hospital as her health condition markedly improves.

AIADMK spokesperson C R Saraswathy said Jayalalithaa was shifted to a ward.

"We really thank God. Our honourable Chief Minister has been shifted to a ward. She has started a healthy life again," she told reporters here, adding "today is our Deepavali."

AIADMK workers distributed sweets and danced outside the hospital premises, after hearing the news of Jayalalithaa being shifted to a private room in the hospital from the critical care unit..

Referring to the views of Apollo Hospitals chairman P C Reddy that Jayalalithaa has recovered fully and is taking normal food, she said, "now honourable CM has been shifted to a ward. Very soon she will come home, we are very happy there are no words to express our feelings...We are so happy... We thank all the people who prayed for our Amma."

On Friday, chairman of Apollo Hospitals Pratap C Reddy had said that she is fine and she would be in the ICU for sometime in order to protect her from fresh infection.

“The chief minister is breathing and sleeping well, and is on ventilator only for 15 minutes in a day,” he said.

The 68-year-old Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital for fever and dehydration on September 22.

The doctors later said she needed a longer stay at the hospital as she was suffering from infection and put her on respiratory support.

According to Apollo Hospitals, a team of specialist doctors -- cardiologists, respiratory physicians, consultants for infectious diseases, diabetologist and endocrinologist -- treated her.

(With agency inputs)