New Delhi, Dec 28: The call came around 9 a.m. Wednesday asking for arrangements to be made to fly the 23-year-old gang-rape victim abroad for treatment as well as her parents that very evening. In just 12 hours, after a flurry of calls, including many international ones, everything was finalized to fly the critically ill young woman to Singapore.
"We had to arrange for passports as they did not have any passport and visas. We had to make all the arrangements in between juggling the visit of the Nepal president (Ram Baran Yadav)... Quite a few calls were made to get everything done," an informed source told IANS, requesting anonymity.
There was talk of sending the woman to either Germany or Britain too for treatment but the Singapore hospital, Mount Elizabeth, was settled upon, the source added. Singapore is also nearer, cutting down the flying time for the critically ill patient.
"After making arrangements with Singapore to send the patient and her parents, we also had to think about where the parents would stay... That was arranged by our mission there," the source said.
The gang-rape victim was flown out to Singapore in an air ambulance late Wednesday night.
She is in "extremely critical condition" at Mount Elizabeth Hospital's intensive care unit, a bulletin from the hospital said Friday.
In addition to a cardiac arrest she had suffered before being admitted, the young woman also had infection in her lungs and abdomen, "as well as significant brain injury", according to Kelvin Loh, the hospital's chief executive officer.
The woman, a physiotherapist, was gang-raped and tortured by six men on board a moving bus in south Delhi Dec 16 night. She suffered extensive injuries to her abdomen and had to have her small intestines removed. Sepsis also set in and her condition kept deteriorating.
The savage gang-rape has led to massive protests in New Delhi and calls for stricter punishment for rape.
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