A week after DMK chief M Karunanidhi was re-admitted to Kauvery Hospital in Chennai with breathing difficulties, owing to a throat and lung infection, sources said that the 92-year-old leader will be discharged at 4:30pm on Friday.

He was admitted just after 11pm on December 16. A day later the private hospital issued a bulletin stating that he had undergone a tracheostomy to optimise breathing. The last medical bulletin released by the hospital on Wednesday carried a picture of Karunanidhi watching TV along with doctors and medical staff. The bulletin had stated that he would be discharged after completing his course of anti-biotics.  

The DMK patriarch’s health has suffered in the last few months. On October 25, the party had announced that he was ill due to a drug-induced allergy, and asked its members to avoid visiting him. The drugs he was allergic to, were those he was regularly taking. Since then, Karunanidhi has been largely confined to his Gopalapuram residence in Chennai.

On December 1, Karunanidhi was admitted to Kauvery Hospital to continue his medical treatment for his allergic reactions to drugs. A press release by the hospital had then said that the former CM has been admitted for ‘optimization of nutrition’ and ‘hydration’. He is stable, being treated by a team of doctors and will be in hospital for a few days, the release had said