Odisha student on ventilator after suicide attempt; next 48 hrs crucial: AIIMS
She is on a ventilator with extensive damage to skin, respiratory tract, internal organs, posing life-threatening complications.
The next 48 hours are crucial for the 20-year-old undergraduate student who attempted to die by suicide on an Odisha college campus on Saturday over alleged sexual harassment by a professor, as “her vital organs have suffered serious damage,” doctors at AIIMS Bhubaneswar monitoring her condition said on Sunday.
Hours after she was admitted to All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhubaneswar with 90% burns, police arrested assistant professor Samir Kumar Sahu, who heads the education department at Fakir Mohan Autonomous College.
AIIMS has formed a 12 doctors team, comprising specialists from critical care, surgery, nephrology, and pulmonology, who are monitoring her around the clock. “Her condition is still critical. She was put on a ventilator in a special ICU ward. Doctors from multiple departments are treating her. Around 90–95% of her body has suffered burns. Her kidneys were affected too. She has shown no signs of recovery ever since she was admitted. We are keeping a close watch on her condition as it is vital for the next 48 hours,” AIIMS Bhubaneswar executive director Ashutosh Biswas said.
“The patient is intubated, and that’s why she is alive till now. These are deep burns, and it is hard to assess her internal injuries. She is on a ventilator. There has been extensive damage to her skin, respiratory tract, and internal organs, posing life-threatening complications, including infection and organ failure,” a doctor treating the woman at AIIMS said.
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The girl had lodged a complaint with the Internal Complaints Committee of the college on July 1. In her grievance to the internal complaints committee, she had alleged that Sahu had been asking her for “favours” and had also threatened to destroy her academic career if she did not oblige. Though she was assured that action would be taken in seven days, nothing happened. She also lodged a complaint with the local police in the issue.
The student and her classmates began a protest outside the college gate demanding action on Saturday. However, she suddenly got up, ran to an area close to the principal’s office, and attempted to die by suicide. A CCTV grab showed her on fire, running into a corridor of the college. A man tried to help her, but retreated after his T-shirt caught fire. The student walked out of the corridor, and other people could be seen trying to extinguish the fire.
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Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi had said the woman could be airlifted to a better hospital, but AIIMS Bhubaneswar doctors advised against it due to her serious condition.
The college principal, Dilip Ghosh, was also suspended by the higher education department over his failure to take action in the case.
The Odisha government has constituted a three-member committee — higher education director Kali Prasanna Mohapatra, higher education joint secretary Mousumi Nayak, and professor Jhumki Rath of BJB (Autonomous) College — to probe the case.
