The five-year-old rape victim will take at least two months to recover completely, even as doctors might take a call on discharging her from the hospital in next few days. The doctors would perform reconstructive surgery on the victim once her wounds are healed.
On Monday, doctors said her future course of treatment would only be decided depending on the improvement the girl shows in the next couple of weeks.
According to the medical bulletin issued by the hospital, the child is showing gradual recovery and her perineal wounds have been re-dressed on Sunday. She is expected to be discharged in another two weeks; although the Medical Superintendent of All India Institute of Medical Sciences Dr DK Sharma has said that her health condition needs to be reviewed simultaneously.
“We have said that she should be going home in a two weeks time but this is not a hard-and-fast rule. She has suffered a brutal attack and it is not possible to decide when exactly we can plan to send her back. We have to keep a check on her progress and recovery. There is no doubt about her recovery. The medical procedures conducted on her have definitely helped her. She is making a slow improvement and talking with her family. We have also started to give her semi-solid food and she is being monitored by a team of specialist doctors,” said Sharma.
“The internal injuries and bruises on the private parts will take time to heal. Only after she shows necessary improvement, a surgery would be thought of. It is too early, to expose her body to an extensive operation. We will have to let her body improve and become healthier then only a reconstructive surgery could be decided on. It will take about two months or more,” Sharma added.
“As far as infection is concerned, it is subsiding. She is responding well to the doses of antibiotics. Her fever has subsided but infection has not been subsided completely but antibiotics are working well,” he said. Speaking about her mobility, he said actual mobility will begin only after perineal wounds heal; however, she is able to sit up.
A doctor involved in her treatment also spoke about the mental trauma child has suffered. “The heinous act has traumatised the child. Her mental wounds will take equal time to heal as her physical wounds. We do not want to push anything on her. She is too small to understand anything and needs to be dealt with more care and love,” he added.