Jayalalithaa health update: Tamil Nadu CM has 'completely recovered,' say doctors

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is well and will decide when to go home, said Apollo Hospital's Chief Medical Director Pratap Reddy on Friday. She has completely recovered, he added.

Earlier reports said that she could be moved to a private room in Chennai's Apollo Hospital in three days. She has been in the critical care unit (CCU) for more than a month after she complained of dehydration and exhaustion.

"Jayalalithaa is aware of what is happening around her, she has to now decide on when to go home," the CMD said. She asks and demands what she wants after her recovery.

Her party, AIADMK, had said on Wednesday that she will resume her duties soon.

A team of 15 doctors, including cardiologists, a pulmonologist, intensivists, infectious disease specialists and a nephrologist, had come together to cure her. She had a mitral valve leak leading to fluid collection in the lungs.

The infection has been treated successfully, reports said, and her health has been improving. 

Jayalalithaa had been conscious since she was no longer sedated during the day in the third week of October. 

"Not only is she conscious, but she even wrote down her own menu and is eating her food, and not being fed through a tube," a source told the Hindu.

She is also undergoing physiotherapy to rehabilitate her after she spent nearly a month on a hospital bed. She might be able to speak soon, doctors said. 

Last week, reports had said that due to an inflammation in her right hand she was unable to sign party documents regarding by-polls in Tamil Nadu and a thumb impression had to be used.