Oommen Chandy's death due to complications from cancer

Former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy passed away at Chinmaya Hrudayalaya, Indiranagar, on Tuesday morning owing to complications from cancer.

Chandy was on home palliative care for the past three months, as his family had stopped oncological interventions since his cancer continued to advance.

Dr Vashisth Das, interventional cardiologist at Chinmaya Hrudayalaya, said that Chandy was brought in on Monday evening, and his condition subsequently deteriorated owing to his pre-existing health issues.

Chandy had advanced laryngeal (throat) cancer, and had started taking consulations from HCG Cancer Centre, Bengaluru, since last December. He had also undergone laser biopsy in Germany, a treatment which reduces the tumour size but doesn’t cure cancer.

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Last February, after accusations that his family was not facilitating appropriate treatment for him, the Kerala government too had intervened in the matter. Chandy was subsequently airlifted to HCG, and received immunotherapy at the hospital between February and April.

Immunotherapy was expected to buy him time so that he could move on to more definitive and aggressive treatments like chemotherapy and surgery later on, a source said.

However, Chandy’s family took a call to stop immunotherapy in April as his cancer continued to advance. Chandy was then put on symptomatic palliative care and alternative therapies.

He had been under home care in Bengaluru since then.