The health of former Chief Minister and DMK President M Karunanidhi has witnessed a slight decline due to age-related ailments on Thursday, stated a release from Kauvery Hospital. The 94-year-old leader is presently being treated by medical experts at his Gopalapuram residence in Chennai.
“He is currently being treated for fever due to Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) with intravenous antibiotics and fluids. He is being monitored and treated round the clock by a team of medical and nursing professionals, who are providing hospital-level care at his home,” read the statement by Kauvery Hospital.
The hospital statement also said that due to his medical condition, visitors are strictly restricted.
Incidentally, Thursday marks 49 years since Karunanidhi took charge as the DMK president. He became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the first time in 1969.
On July 18, Karunanidhi was admitted to Kauvery Hospital for a tracheotomy procedure. At the time, the hospital had said that the former CM has been admitted as part of a routine medical check-up and the procedure has to be done every six months. He was discharged the same evening.
Karunanidhi has been suffering from a lung disease, for which he has been undergoing the treatment for several months now.
The DMK chief was hospitalised in October 2016 for allergy-related ailments. In December 2016, he was admitted three times and had later undergone a tracheotomy which involves creating an opening in the windpipe to enable breathing.
It is after this that he requires a tracheo tube replacement every six months. In 2017 he had been admitted at Kauvery Hospital in Chennai where he had undergone the same minor procedure. In the past few months, the leaders have been actively meeting people, including political leaders. He has also been undergoing speech therapy.
Since 2016, Karunanidhi has been out of active politics. Following the deterioration in his health, his son MK Stalin was named the Working President of the party on January 4, 2017, at a meeting of the DMK’s general council in Chennai. Ill-health prevented Karunanidhi from attending the meeting, the first time that this had happened.