The then Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran was admitted to Apollo Hospital on October 5, 1984. A press release from the CM's office said that he had “slight asthmatic trouble.” On November 25, The Hindu reported that during her October 16 visit to meet MGR, “who just three days earlier had been paralysed by a stroke,” then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi “promised all help in treating him.”
On October 19, The Hindu quoted the leader of a team of doctors from the US who examined MGR to say that, “the swelling in the brain was coming down.” On October 20, two Japanese neurologists examined the CM. One of them was quoted in The Hindu on October 27 saying, “since the CM's condition was stable and improving, there would be no need for him to be brought to Japan for treatment.” On the morning of November 5, the cabinet decided to fly the CM to the US for treatment, based on a report submitted by a panel. The panel noted that the CM's wife Janaki Ramachandran had consented to the shifting. An Air India Boeing 707, converted into a flying hospital, took off with the CM at 10.45 pm. On November 6, he was admitted to the Downstate Medical Centre. On February 5, the next year, The Hindu reported that MGR returned to Chennai to a tumultuous welcome “after a kidney transplant.”