Only seek stay on proceedings related to Jaya treatment: Apollo Hospitals clarifies

In a write petition before the Madras High Court, Apollo Hospitals said it had sought a stay only on the proceedings related to the medical treatment, including appearance of doctors.

The hospital, in a statement, said the court heard the petition today and directed both the commission and the Tamil Nadu government to file their replies and posted the matter to February 15.

Apollo Hospitals said it would be filing a memo before the commission to adjourn the appearance of doctors posted before it on Feb 12 and 13. However, before it could do so, it received an email from the commission secretary stating "Witness Stopped. Fresh date will be intimated later."

The Justice A. Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry that is probing the Jayalalithaa death case was constituted in 2017 to probe into circumstances that led to death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, from inquiring into the correctness, adequacy or inadequacy of medical treatment provided to her at the hospital in Chennai before her death on December 5, 2016.

Apollo has claimed the probe panel is prejudiced and the hospital will be subjected to grave hardship and irreparable harm if the proceedings are not stayed.

“The real danger of prejudice and bias is apparent in the manner in which the probe panel is conducting the examination of witnesses,” Times Now quoted a section of the petition.

Levelling a series of allegations against the Arumugam Swamy commission, Apollo has said that the commission has concluded prematurely that the hospital is at wrong.

The hospital has also accused the probe panel of acting beyond its jurisdiction and has  filed a writ petition urging the High Court to appoint an independent medical board comprising specialist doctors not associated with the State government to probe issues pertaining to treatment provided to Jayalalithaa if the court thought that the terms of reference of the Commission of Inquiry would necessitate a probe into the treatment provided to her.

The hospital had earlier urged the commission to set up a medical board to look into the treatment which was given to Jayalalithaa but the request was denied by the commission.

Last year in December, the Apollo Hospitals had petitioned the commission to bring 21 specialists on board and set up a medical board to examine the medical records related to the hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa.

AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospital in Chennai in September 2016 due to critical health issues. She remained in the hospital for 75 days before she passed away.