Jaya probe: Doctors reluctant to be part of panel’s medical committee

The reluctance of doctors approached by the commission to be part of the probe is reportedly the reason for the delay in forming the committee, sources said.

Apollo Hospitals, which treated Jayalalithaa during her 75-day hospitalisation in 2016, had submitted 30 volumes of documents in two suitcases to the commission on January 12. The documents contained the complete history of the treatment provided to her.

The commission then approached the State government to constitute a medical committee to examine the documents. Subsequently, it was conveyed on April 16 that the commission could take steps to form the medical committee on its own.

However, the efforts of Justice (Retd) Arumughaswamy commission in this regard have proved to be futile as several high profile medical professionals have turned down their request to be part of the medical committee. It is alleged that the reluctance is due to the high profile and political nature of the deceased individual. The commission is now looking into the possibility of reaching out to doctors from other States.

Meanwhile, Jayalalithaa’s assistant Poongundran and Sasikala’s aide Karthikeyan appeared before the commission on Wednesday. The manager of Bank of India’s Kotagiri branch Alok Kumar also appeared responded to his summons.

The commission is expected to submit its final report on October 24 this year. The one-man enquiry commission’s term, which was to end on June 24, was granted an additional four months by the State government only to complete the investigation.