CHENNAI: State Health Minister Vijaya Baskar, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan, Chairman of Apollo Hospitals Prathap C Reddy, his daughters Suneeta and Preetha Reddy, Chief Pulmunologist Dr Babu Abraham, a team of expert doctors and nurses gathered at Apollo Hospitals on Wednesday to condole the demise of the late Chief Minister. With shivering voices, and teary eyes, each recalled a fond memory she gave to them while at the hospital.
While the leader had an intense impact on the nurses who took intimate care of her, the former leader of the State had carved a space for herself in hearts of doctors and experts too. All doctors believed that they could bend destiny and make her stay alive. The chief intensivist Babu Abraham instrospected as he cried on stage, “Did we do this correctly? Did we miss anything? The more I thought about it, I realised that we had a very cohesive team and there was never a decision that was taken without a meeting.” According to him, even the decision of moving her to London was brushed aside because doctors abroad believed that she was receiving the best possible treatment. Preetha Reddy said, “The country has lost an excellent stateswoman. What we miss the most is her sense of humour and her ability to appreciate everything.”
Her demise was a big shock to the staff of Apollo after her “almost complete recovery”. Health Minister Vijaya Baskar said gravely, “I had a strong feeling that she’ll come back. I didn’t expect to be at this condolence.” The health secretary who grieved with him said that her loss will leave behind an empty space in their lives. “The message she always gave was that she wanted all government hospitals to be better than the private sector. We should work to achieve that,” said Radhakrishnan.
“We thought we’d given rebirth to her at the end of the first critical five days. It was a miracle. We thought we could do it, we thought we did, but we didn’t. I’m sorry we couldn’t give back the Chief Minister despite our best efforts,” said the grieved PC Reddy.