Jayalalithaa given best possible medical treatment: Doctors

Late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa had suffered a "cardiac arrest" on December 4 last year and was immediately put on resuscitation, doctors said on Monday. They said the best possible treatment was provided to her in Apollo hospital.

"Everything that could have been done was done," Richard Beale, a UK-based doctor who attended on Jayalalithaa, told media persons here.

According to the doctors, medical personnel were present in the room when Jayalalithaa suffered a sudden heart attack on December 4 last year.

"She had a cardiac arrest. CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) was started immediately. The on-call cardiologist in the hospital came down within a few minutes. The CPR (process) went for 20 minutes but there was no heart rhythm," said a doctor, who was in the panel of doctors that addressed a specially convened press conference.

He said that for 24 hours Jayalalithaa was put on another machine to see if her heart restarts, but there was no "own heart beat".

The doctor said it was decided to discontinue the process after about 24 hours and the decision was taken with consultation with all doctors, including the AIIMS team, who had arrived.

Answering a query, Beale said he had met Jayalalithaa's aide V.K. Sasikala during the treatment and she was closely engaged in care "in a supportive manner".

Sasikala was on Sunday elected leader of the AIADMK legislature party.

Jayalalithaa was declared dead at Apollo Hospital here on December 6. She was admitted to the hospital on September 22 with fever and dehydration.

In an official statement after the demise of Jayalalithaa, doctors said she had suffered a cardiac arrest.