Post date: Dec 25, 2012 2:32:8 PM
Doctors attending to the victim of the recent gang-rape in Delhi say that while her condition shows slow improvement, she is still critical.
NEW DELHI, INDIA (DECEMBER 25, 2012) (ANI) - Doctors attending to the victim of the recent gang-rape in Delhi said on Tuesday (December 25) that while her condition showed slow improvement, she was still critical.
The 23-year-old victim of the December 16 attack, who was beaten, raped for almost an hour and thrown out of a moving bus in New Delhi, was attempting to communicate and had reduced her reliance on ventilator support, doctors said."She is conscious. She is alert. She is communicating by gestures because there is an endotracheal tube, which is not allowing her physically to speak. Otherwise, she is conscious. The ventilator support has been reduced drastically," said Dr. Sunil Jain ofDelhi's Safdarjung Hospital.
Jain added, however, that the victim's condition was improving largely due to the external fluids being pumped into her body.
"The platelet counts have improved. The total leucocyte count has improved. Haemoglobin has improved. But remember one thing, this is all because we have pumped in a lot of platelets, fresh plasma, blood et cetera. The real improvement will be when her body starts producing these things," he said.
In the north Indian hill station of Dharamsala, people of all faiths gathered together on the occasion of Christmas for a special prayer meeting for the rape victim. While tourists and locals sang carols, they also prayed for the girl's health.
"Our hearts really go out to the young lady's family. We are interceding for them. We are asking that the Lord enfold them in His care and comfort them, and we are just very saddened by what happened," said Pauliana, a Brazilian tourist.
New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities, with a rape reported on average every 18 hours, according to police figures. A global poll byThomson Reuters Foundation in June found that India was the worst place in the world to be a woman because of high rates of infanticide, child marriage and slavery.
Since last week's rape, the authorities have promised better police patrolling to ensure safety for women returning from work and entertainment districts, more buses at night, and fast-track courts for swift verdicts on cases of rape and sexual assaults.
But protesters view those measures as inadequate and are looking for the government to take a firmer stand on sexual assaults countrywide, most of which go unreported.
Reported rape cases in India have increased by 9.2 percent to 24,206 cases in 2011 from 22,172 the previous year, according to the latest figures from the National Crime Record Bureau.