In a statement which would put to duress millions of followers and supporters of the late Tamil Nadu chief-minister J. Jayalalithaa, Apollo Hospital’s chief Dr. Pratap Reddy has said that the CCTV cameras at the portion of the Hospital where Jayalalithaa remained hospitalized for 75 long days in 2016 were ‘unfortunately’ not functioning.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals under mysterious circumstances on the night of 22nd September, 2016 after she complained of difficulty in breathing.  She spent mystery-filled 75 days at the Hospital after which she was declared ‘dead’ by the Hospital late on the night of 05th December, 2016.  Bowing to popular demand, the Edapadi K. Palaniswami-led Govt. set up a one-man Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Arumuga Swamy to probe the mysterious circumstances which led to Jayalalithaa’s demise.

COI interrogated doctors who treated Jayalalithaa and all others who had something to say about the late leader, who was praised by the people as ‘Amma’.  Her former aide Sasikala, in an affidavit filed with the COI stating that Jayalalithaa ‘slipped in her bathroom’ on 22nd September, 2016 due to which she was rushed to the Hospital.  COI sources refused to confirm this and other facts and said that the report about the affidavit which appeared in English press were not ‘entirely true’.

Speaking to newsmen today in Chennai, Dr. Reddy said that Jayalalithaa was given the best possible care and medical attention which involved doctors from Apollo as well as from abroad.  “Only those permitted by her close aide(s) were allowed to meet her,” he said and added that all medical records in respect of treatment given to Jayalalithaa had been handed over to the COI.

“Unfortunately, the CCTV cameras installed at the portion of the hospital where she was treated were not functioning; we didn’t bother rectifying them as we didn’t want others to get to know the treatment given to her.  Other patients were cleared from near her ward for the sake of privacy and for her security; there is no CCTV footage available about the treatment given to her,” Dr. Reddy said.