Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa suffers cardiac arrest, shifted to ICU

Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa suffered a cardiac arrest Sunday evening and was being treated and monitored by a team of doctors, the Apollo Hospitals said Sunday night. “The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, who is undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, suffered a cardiac arrest this evening,” a medical bulletin said. “She is being treated and monitored by a team of experts, including cardiologists, pulmonologist and critical care specialists,” it added. Informed sources said the CM was shifted back to the intensive care unit Sunday evening. As soon as the news of Ms Jayalalithaa suffering a cardiac arrest spread, acting governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao headed back from Mumbai by a special flight, signalling the gravity of the situation.

AIADMK bigwigs like finance minister O. Pannerselvam, health minister C. Vijayabhaskar and senior bureaucrats rushed to the hospital, as hundreds of AIADMK cadres also gathered outside the hospital.

Earlier, a team of AIIMS doctors had examined the CM on Saturday after a gap of nearly a month. British expert Dr Richard Beale and AIIMS doctors — Dr G. Khilnani, professor, department of pulmonology medicine, Dr Anjan Trikha, professor of anaesthesiology and critical care, and Dr Nitish Nayak, professor, department of cardiology — have been examining her since she was admitted to the hospital.