It is the first official word in several days from the doctors and a Constitutional Authority that chief minister J Jayalalithaa was getting better and responding well to treatment.

Chennai: Yesterday it was the Apollo Hospital. And today it was the acting governor of Tamil Nadu, Vidya Sagar Rao, who declared chief minister J Jayalalithaa was progressing well and responding to treatment.

For the first time ever since the chief minister was admitted to Apollo Hospital nearly a month ago, an official word has come from a Constitutional Authority of having visited the ward where she is admitted.

After coming out of the hospital, the governor is said to have conveyed to the media, through an official statement, that she was getting better. “She is interacting and progressing well and responding to treatment,” a Raj Bhavan statement said on Saturday afternoon.

The governor visited Apollo Hospital at around 11.30 a.m and was received by finance minister O Panneerselvam, Lok Sabha deputy speaker Thambi Durai, chief secretary P Rama Mohan Rao, adviser to CM, Sheela Balakrishnan, senior officials and few other ministers. Other senior officials present included principal secretary health, J Radhakrishnan.

Apollo Chairman C Pratap Reddy gave a briefing to the governor on the treatment and care being given to the chief minister. “The governor is happy to note that the chief minister is progressing well,” the Raj Bhavan press release said.

The Apollo Hospital chairman informed the governor that she was still under treatment and constant observation for all her vital parameters.

On Friday, Apollo Hospital too had issued a health bulletin after a gap of nearly 10 days and it declared that Jayalalithaa was getting better and interacting. This positive news, officially from the Apollo Hospital was greeted with cheer and happiness by AIADMK cadres.

AIADMK spokesperson CR Saraswathi told media persons, “You are not able to believe it, no? Well, we have been saying that Amma is all right and needs rest. And this is what the doctors are also saying. She is perfectly all right and would be back home soon,” she said to the cheers of the cadres present outside the main gate of the Apollo Hospital, where scores are still praying within a barricaded area.