Jaya panel counsel files plea flagging serious medical issues in her treatment
Chennai : A petition has been filed before a Commission of Inquiry probing the death of former chief minister J Jayalalaithaa by its counsel, raising serious medical issues regarding her treatment at the Apollo Hospital.
The hospital has, however, strongly refuted the allegations against it raised in the petition.
Commission sources told PTI that the plea filed by the standing counsel for the commission seeks to implead Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and former chief secretary P Rama Mohana Rao over their statements and depositions.
A statement issued Saturday night by Apollo Hospital said it was served a copy of the petition dated December 27.
"It is surprising that the commission is itself filing this petition against other parties," the hospital said, adding that the proceedings before the inquiry panel cannot be "accusatorial" in nature.
The hospital said the plea before the panel referred to three senior doctors advising an angiogram on Jayalalithaa.
"This is incorrect. It was only a single external doctor who on November 25, 2016 visited the late CM for a few minutes and suggested immediate angiogram without going into all the other co-morbidities, including her compromised respiratory condition, which could have potentially inhibited the desired outcome," it said.
The hospital said its team of doctors and Richard Beale, a UK-based specialist, did not think it was wise to do angiogram based on the medical opinion of that doctor who wanted to "perform the procedure and leave immediately out of the country with no commitment to her follow-up care."
Citing medical evidence in the form of depositions of multiple doctors, and related medical reports including echocardiogram and blood tests, the hospital asked why was the "commission choosing to ignore the material evidence in this regard".
Also, the hospital said the petition wrongly spelt 'sternotomy' as "stenotomy".
Complicated medical terminologies in English have been incorrectly translated into Tamil and the context and meaning of medical facts have been lost in interpretation and translation, the hospital alleged.
"This petition only strengthens our case for the immediate appointment of a medical board who will understand the complexities of the late CM's treatment," he said.
The hospital argued that without a medical board no finding of the panel would be "complete" or based on medical science. "The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that a judge cannot substitute a medical specialist's opinion with his own," it said.
Jayalalitha had died on December 5, 2016.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rupee settles 1 paisa higher to close at 94.15 against US dollar
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee settled with gains of just one paisa to close at 94.15 against the US dollar on Monday, as rising global uncertainty, escalating tensions in West Asia and soaring crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.
Forex traders said the INR/USD pair pared its initial losses, but the overall bias remains negative as FII sell-off and elevated crude oil prices restricted the gains for the local unit.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 94.25 against the US dollar, and touched an intraday high of 94.11 and a low of 94.28 against the greenback during the day.
At the end of Monday's trading session, the rupee was quoted at 94.15, registering a gain of just 1 paisa over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee extended its losing streak for the fifth day in a row, depreciating 15 paise to close at 94.16 against the US dollar.
"The rupee snapped a five-session losing streak, rebounding in tandem with a rally across regional currencies. However, the mood remains apprehensive as the market braces for a potential RBI intervention around 94.30 and higher crude oil prices," said Dilip Parmar – Senior Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.
On the charts, the USDINR pair has reclaimed its upward momentum, carving out a classic bullish structure of higher highs and lows on the daily time frame, he said, adding that for the coming sessions, 93.80 serves as a support, with 94.40 acting as the primary hurdle.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.21 per cent at 98.32.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 2.36 per cent at USD 107.82 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 639.42 points to settle at 77,303.63, while the Nifty surged 194.75 points to 24,092.70.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,151.48 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, India's forex reserves jumped by USD 2.362 billion to USD 703.308 billion during the week ended April 17, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.
In the previous reporting week, the forex kitty had increased by USD 3.825 billion to USD 700.946 billion.
