Sasikala’s husband Natarajan discharged from Chennai hospital after dual organ transplant

CHENNAI: AIADMK leader V K Sasikala’s husband M Natarajan, who underwent a dual organ transplant in Gleneagles Global Health City in Chennai, was discharged on Wednesday, doctors said.

The 74-year-old chronic liver disease patient underwent a seven-and-a-half hour kidney and liver transplant surgery, which began on the night of October 3. Natarajan got organs from 19-year-old Karthik N, who was declared brain dead after a road accident in Pudukottai district.

After the transplant surgery, Natarajan had been in the intensive care unit for nearly two weeks.

Doctors did a tracheotomy – a surgical incision in the airway – to connect him to the ventilator.

"He recovered well. Two weeks ago, we moved him to the ward. He was doing well without the ventilator and was breathing normally in the ward. We discharged him on Wednesday and advised him to come for follow-ups,” said Dr K Ilankumaran, director, Institute of Liver Diseases and Transplantation at Gleneagles Global Health City.

Sasikala visited him in the hospital in October, after getting a five-day parole from jail.