Rape victim ‘extremely critical’, has severe cardiac problems

The 23-year-old Delhi gangrape victim who was moved to Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital last night suffered a cardiac arrest in the early hours of Wednesday which has led to severe cardiac complications. While the Mount Elizabeth authorities described her condition as "extremely critical" in a statement issued on Thursday evening, highly placed sources said there were at least two "positive signs" by Thursday night.

According to these sources, the victim's heart rate was down from 165 beats per minute to about 100 beats per minute. She was also able to pass urine by the end of the day.

Earlier, during the six-hour flight from Delhi to Singapore, the team of doctors from Safdarjung Hospital and Medanta who were accompanying her had to perform an arterial cannulation procedure to closely monitor her blood pressure after it showed a steep fall.

As soon as she arrived at the Singapore hospital at around 7 am, a whole body CT scan was performed, after which she was immediately transferred to the ICU. She has been placed under the care of Dr Denis Nyam, a general surgeon who is leading a multi-disciplinary team of five doctors which coordinated her transfer to Singapore.

"As at 7 pm (Singapore time) the patient remains in an extremely critical condition. She is under treatment at Mount Elizabeth Hospital's intensive care unit. Prior to her arrival, she has already undergone three abdominal surgeries, and experienced a cardiac arrest in India. A multi-disciplinary team of specialists is taking care of her and doing everything possible to stabilise her condition," said Dr Kevin Loh, CEO of the Mount Elizabeth hospital.

According to sources, on Thursday afternoon, the victim's ejection fraction — the volume of blood being pumped out of the heart at every heart beat — that was already low, had "further significantly lowered". "There is also some problem in the movement of her heart muscles — a condition known as akinesia," said a source.

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