VICTIM VERY CRITICAL

New Delhi: The condition of the 23-year-old gangrape victim deteriorated further on Monday after she experienced internal bleeding and vomited blood on Sunday night.

“Her condition has deteriorated. She is very serious, very critical and still not out of danger,” said Dr B.D. Athani, medical superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital. Doctors treating her said that she could have started bleeding as the capacity for coagulation must have been reduced after having undergone three surgeries in a week. The third surgery was carried out on Sunday afternoon to wash out infected fluid from her abdominal peritoneal cavity. To drain out further infection, the doctors had placed additional tubes. Page 8: Next 48-hours

crucial for victim

According to the doctors treating the 23-year-old gangrape victim, the woman had high fever throughout Monday and continued to have jaundice. “The fever ranged between 102º Fahrenheit to 104º F all through the day.

A marginal improvement was seen in the liver function as the bilirubin count went down from 6.3 to 5.5. The WBC count too rose to 6,000. The platelet count now is 70,000. But sepsis and bleeding are the major causes of concern, added Dr Misra.

Since, Sunday, the victim “started bleeding through the tubes, a condition called disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIS), and also vomited blood, she was immediately given platelet plasma, three units of packed red cells to stabilise her condition. “The coagulation profile is marginally better as bleeding did not increase throughout the day,” said Dr M.C. Misra, chief of the AIIMS Trauma Centre.

Overall, doctors maintained that she was still critical. However, they hope to see some improvement in the next 48 hours.

The medical team noted that the girl continued to be strong and brave. She was subjected to psychiatric counselling along with her parents. “She is a very brave girl. She has not shown any anxiety or depression,” doctors said.