Sasikala Tests Negative for COVID, Suffers From Respiratory Issues

Former AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala’s health is now improving.

VK Sasikala’s advocate Raja Senthoor Pandian told that she will be released from the Karnataka’s Parappana Agrahara Prison by 27 January.

(Image Courtesy: The News Minute)

Former AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala was put on oxygen support on Wednesday, 20 January, evening, after being admitted to the Bowring Hospital in Bengaluru. However, her health is now improving.

The aide of the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had fallen ill in the Parappana Agrahara Prison, and according to the hospital's dean, the result of her RT-PCR test, to determine if she is positive for the coronavirus, came negative.

"She had fever two days ago and was in the Parappana Agrahara prison hospital. When she was brought in, she had breathlessness but no fever. She was shifted to the ICU on Thursday morning not because her condition deteriorated, but because we wanted to monitor her. She has a Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) but her COVID-19 tests have come as negative. Her condition has improved since she was admitted and she is stable now,” Dr Manoj Kumar HV, dean and director of Bowring hospital told TNM.

Sources in Bowring hospital said that the current diagnosis the doctors are working with is SARI and that the cause could be any infection.

Sasikala already has multiple co-morbidities that she is receiving treatment for. Her oxygen saturation levels, according to sources close to her, had reduced to 79 percent.

"On arrival at hospital, oxygen saturation at room air was 79 percent and febrile. (She is) stable with supportive measures and antibiotics and oxygen. She will be further evaluated and monitored," the doctor added.

According to sources, Sasikala’s family is disappointed that a CT Scan has not yet been taken despite Sasikala having a respiratory infection.

Sasikala is supposed to be released from the Karnataka prison on January 27, ahead of the Tamil Nadu state Assembly elections. The process towards her release has been keenly watched by her supporters and adversaries to determine if it will cause a shift in the state’s political landscape.

TNM had earlier reported that Sasikala is likely to stay with her family in Chennai’s T Nagar area after her release. She had stayed with her niece Krishnapriya even when she had come out on parole earlier.

(This article was originally published in The News Minute and has been reposted with permission.)