‘J Jayalalithaa didn’t want world to know her health issues’

CHENNAI: Former chief minister J Jayalalithaa safeguarded her privacy and did not want to tell the world she was getting medical treatment. This is why an ambulance was not stationed outside her house on September 22, 2016, J Radhakrishnan, health secretary to TN government, told the Justice (retd) A Arumughaswamy commission on Thursday.

Radhakrishnan was responding to a question from Raja Senthoor Pandian, advocate for VK Sasikala, Jayalalithaa’s aide. Pandian quoted from Radhakrishnan’s deposition.

Radhakrishnan also told the commission that he was aware she was ill, but not how ill since she had chaired two functions on September 21 and a Chennai Metro rail inauguration with then Union minister Venkaiah Naidu, Pandian said.

“If she had been ill for four days, I would have ensured that an ambulance was positioned and a medical team attended to her,” Pandian quoted Radhakrishnan as saying.

Asked why he had not visited her in Apollo hospitals on the night of September 22 itself, Radhakrishnan said he visited her the next morning since she was not discharged by then. He saw Jayalalithaa 7-8 times in Apollo during her treatment, Radhakrishnan said.

Radhakrishnan also said 10 rooms in Apollo hospitals were occupied by government officials, two rooms were kept for visiting MLAs and ministers and one room was kept for Health minister C Vijayabaskar. A mini government office was set up at the hospital, Radhakrishnan was quoted as saying by sources. Food was given to all the people, he said, when asked by Pandian about the food bill made public on Wednesday.

Speaking to the press after his deposition, Radhakrishnan said Jayalalithaa herself was against going abroad for treatment. Though it was discussed earlier, it was felt the facilities at Apollo hospitals matched those at hospitals across the globe, he said. Later, it was decided that shifting her to a foreign country was highly risky, he said.

The commission also examined Jayalalithaa’s personal security officer Perumalsamy and Anna Nagar DCP M Sudakar, who headed the core cell in charge of Jayalalithaa’s security when she was in hospital.

Sudakar said and three additional SPs (Permumalsamy, Veeraperumal and Raja) would know every movement of Jayalalithaa and that a route chart would be made when she moved out from her room for any tests. They also informed the Inspector General (IG) Sathiyamoorthy, sources said. When asked Sudakar said he did not know about food provided to cops by Apollo hospitals, Pandian said quoting from his deposition.