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Delhi gangrape victim reaches Singapore, admitted to hospital

Last updated on: December 27, 2012 08:47 IST

The 23-year-old Delhi gangrape victim, who was flown out to Singapore in an air ambulance for specialised treatment, was admitted to the Mount Elizabeth hospital on Thursday morning.

The plane carrying the girl landed at the Changi International Airport at 7.30 am (5 am IST), the Indian High Commission in Singapore said, confirming the girl's arrival.

The decision to shift the girl was taken at the highest level of the Indian government.

On December 16, the girl was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus. She had been undergoing treatment at a hospital in Delhi.

The girl, who continues to remain in a critical condition, remained on ventilator support during most part of her treatment in Delhi.

On Wednesday night, she was flown to Singapore for treatment in a private chartered air ambulance belonging to ARE Airways, which is equipped with sophisticated ICU facilities.

Official sources said passport and Singapore visa for the girl and some of her family members, who will accompany her in the air ambulance, was handed over to her on Wednesday night after it was facilitated by the external affairs ministry.

The sources said the Indian High Commission in Singapore has been asked by the government to render all assistance to the girl.

The sources said it was the decision of doctors attending on her to shift the girl abroad for specialised treatment.

Asked after a Union Cabinet meeting whether the victim could be taken abroad for treatment, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had earlier said she is not in a condition to move but the final decision depends on her doctors.

The girl, who was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital on December 16, underwent two major and one minor surgery in the past 10 days, during which the major part of her intestine was removed.

The victim has been on ventilator for the majority of her stay in the hospital, except for two days when she was taken off ventilator and started breathing on her own.

Despite the violence that she underwent, the girl was "physcologically fit and sound" with doctors calling her a very brave girl who was concerned about her future.

During her 10-day stay in the ICU of the hospital, the girl was administered plasma-rich platelets and blood to keep her vital parameters stable.

The victim's father said the family has not been informed where the girl is being taken and that they were just told to board the aircraft.

"We don't know anything. We don't know where we are going. All we have been told is we are going abroad. Me, my wife and the entire family is going with her," he said. The entire family is being flown to Singapore with the victim.

The condition of the victim deteriorated on Tuesday night as her pulse rate reduced considerably but it recovered soon.

The medical bulletin on her health by the doctors at Safdarjung Hospital, where she is being treated, was postponed twice as top heart specialists attended on her.

According to sources, her condition had deteriorated late Tuesday night as she had suffered from "bradycardia", with her pulse rate reducing, but she recovered within minutes.

Sources said her pulse rate has suddenly reduced to below 50 per minute but recovered within five minutes.

"Her condition continues to be critical but stable," a senior doctor said while confirming her bradycardia condition on Tuesday night.

Top health specialists, including Naresh Trehan, were attending on the girl . They held consultations with the panel of doctors looking into her health condition.

The medical bulletin on the victim's health was to be issued at 4.30 pm, but it was postponed to 6.30 pm, only to be put off again by the hospital administration.

Senior health officials, including the director general of health services, held consultation with doctors attending on her.

Sources said the decision to shift the girl to Singapore was taken at the highest level of the government and noted that all necessary travel documents were provided at the shortest possible time.

The Union health ministry had earlier contacted the hospital in Singapore.

Sources said the government will bear all expenses of the girl's treatment in Singapore.

A few doctors are also flying with the girl.

The paramedical student was gangraped and brutally assaulted allegedly by six youth, including a minor, in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16 night and her male friend was badly beaten up when he tried to protect her. They had boarded the bus from Munirka area at around 9.15 pm.

Eager to live and see that her rapists punished, she had recorded her statement twice -- on December 21 before the sub divisional magistrate and on December 24 before the metropolitan magistrate.

The second statement was necessitated after Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit alleged that the police "interfered" with the process of recording of the victim's statement.

"I want to live...Have they been caught," she had asked her mother.

With PTI inputs

Onkar Singh In Delhi