Diabetic Jayalalithaa had vanilla, pista ice creams at hospital?

CHENNAI: If the deposition of doctors and dieticians of Jayalalithaa before the Arumughaswamy commission are something to go by, the former chief minister might have had little control over her diet while at the hospital. Statement made by the Commission witness (no 7) Dr P Balalji suggested that she was only given hospital food and she changed the menu often. Former bureaucrat Sheela Balakrishnan had submitted that the former chief minister was given oats and custard apple while Sasikala’s relative Krishnapriya stated that Jayalalithaa took tomato rice, idly, white pongal and ice cream.

Her personal physician Dr K S Sivakumar said that she did not avoid taking cake or sweets even in the hospital, occasionally. She consumed fruits and sweets under the control of the hospital. The report quoted Dr Sivakumar as saying that she took high quality ice cream of chocolate colour and took rice in small quantities. On some occasions, she took more cakes and sweets, relaxing the food restrictions suggested. “She did not follow food restrictions completely, the reason being that taking food that she relished was one of her only pleasurable activities,” the report said.

While a nurse named Helena told the commission that she had not seen her taking sweets, cakes or fruits, Dr Bhuvaneswari Shankar deposed that she was given sweet once or twice (once during Deepavali and during her party’s victory) and she used to take hill plantain, seedless grapes and mangoes as desired.

The Apollo administration permitted her to cook her own food (using her personal cook). A statement made by Dr Bhuvaneswari Shankar said that it is correct to say that on November 6 and 7, 2016 she was given bread, apple, tender coconut (70ml) and sambar rice at 11am. Following that, curd rice, potato one cup were served at 12 pm with pista ice cream plus along vanilla strawberry ice cream each 1 spoon and tender coconut 100ml at 12.25 pm. Later, around 2.30 pm she was given 10 ml black tea. At night,she had curd rice, potato and hill banana four spoons.

The commission quoted Josnamol Joseph, a nurse, as stating that the former chief minister would tell the menu and Apollo canteen would send the same.

The nurse was quoted as telling the commission that diabetic Jayalalithaa got milkshake, hill plantain, potato fry, tender coconut, and curd rice, but she did not take cake or sweets. The nurse even admitted to her taking halwa once.

Dr Babu Abraham told the commission that they gave her the foods she asked for because she would deny other foods. The commission, however, cared to remind the evidence of Dr Babu Abraham that if the late chief minister had gone abroad, she would have been a normal patient like others there and the nurses would have been more authoritative to her.