THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former chief minister Oommen Chandy, who is hospitalised in Neyyattinkara, will be airlifted to Bengaluru only after he fully recovers from pneumonia. The medical board constituted by the state government visited the ailing leader on Tuesday. The team will again call on the 79-year-old on Thursday morning to take stock of his current health condition.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan spoke to Oommen Chandy’s son Chandy Oommen on Tuesday night for the second time in a gap of three days, to ensure that the veteran leader is airlifted to Bengaluru for further treatment.
On Wednesday, the previous treatment reports and discharge summary of Oommen Chandy, who had undergone treatment at five hospitals in Kerala, Bengaluru and Germany, were handed over to the medical board. The board comprises Dr Thomas Ipe, Dr M Venugopal, Dr S Sreenath and Dr Kiran Vishnu of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College and Dr Shaji Thomas and Dr R Rejnish Kumar of Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.
Dr Rejnish told TNIE that the board has already directed the in-house medical team at the private hospital in Neyyattinkara, on the treatment protocol to be followed. “We visited him at the hospital on Tuesday and gave our recommendations to the team of doctors and his family members. At this juncture, the family is giving thrust on treating his pneumonia. Once he recovers from pneumonia, he will be airlifted to the hospital in Bengaluru where treatment for his throat issue will be resumed,” said Dr Rejnish, additional professor, head and neck oncology.
The tug of war between Chandy’s relatives in Puthupally and his family is still going on. Even when the veteran leader’s relatives expressed happiness in constituting a medical board to oversee the treatment, they are apprehensive about his family members playing spoilsport.
A close family member of Oommen Chandy told TNIE that Pinarayi conveyed to Chandy Oommen the urgency of pursuing follow-up treatment for his throat issue. Or else the government will have to act following the complaint from the relatives.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Neyyattinkara hospital released a medical bulletin stating that the ailing leader’s condition has improved and his oxygen level in the blood has become normal without the help of a BiPap machine, which helps push air into the lungs. Senior Congress leader V M Sudheeran visited Oommen Chandy and also spoke to his family members on Wednesday.