Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is doing well and speaks using a valve attached to the tracheostomy tube as she continues to get treatment, Apollo Hospitals Chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy said in Chennai on Friday. Reddy said the Chief Minister, who is getting whole body physiotherapy, is undergoing a "normal recuperation" after being in bed for several weeks and it is she who would decide when to go home. Asked whether she has any trouble in speaking, he told
reporters "...she speaks from a few seconds to a few minutes... but she is not in a hurry." Reddy said with tracheostomy, "normally they (patients) cannot speak. It also has a speaker attached. She uses that speaker (valve), but it is not easy for a person to speak with a speaker because they have to hold their breath." Speaking on the sidelines of a programme on organ donation, he said that for some patients, tracheostomy (a tube and attached valve for communication) may be permanent.