Gurgaon: Nirbhaya, the 23-year-old woman who was brutally gang-raped in Delhi last month was alive when flown to Singapore, said Naresh Trehan, chairman of Medanta Hospital which provided the air ambulance for the woman.
“She was alive when taken to Singapore,” Trehan, one of the several doctors who had closely monitored the young woman while she was admitted to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, told reporters here Friday.
He was reacting to reports claiming that the woman was already dead before being air-lifted to the Singapore Hospital.
Trehan said he was informed that the young woman’s “pupils were reacting” before she was shifted to Singapore’s’ Mount Elizabeth Hospital Dec 26. The girl died Dec 29 after a 13-day fight for life.
Though the woman had suffered a cardiac arrest, major damage was prevented as it happened in the presence of doctors, Trehan added.
The government’s decision to shift the woman to Singapore had drawn much flak.
While some were of the view that the already frail condition of the victim was worsened by the journey, others said the woman was shifted unnecessarily to douse the protests in the capital. The government maintained that the step was taken on medical grounds.
However, Trehan claimed that his hospital had a “better team and equipment” compared to the Singapore hospital.