Amputated girl athlete being flown to Delhi

Young athlete Arunima Sinha, who was forced to undergo amputation of the left lower limb after she was thrown off a running train in Barielly last week, is now being shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.

The decision followed detection of a serious infection for which she underwent a second round of surgery at the King George's Medical College under Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University in Lucknow on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken flew down from New Delhi to make an offer to the Uttar Pradesh government to shift the promising athlete to Delhi for specialised treatment.

"Even though we have succeeded in controlling the infection she had caught on during the course of hospitalization in Barielly and in Lucknow, there is no doubt that AIIMS is better equipped to provide her more modern treatment," Prof Vineet Sharma of the Orthopaedics Department at the medical university told media persons.

"A decision was therefore taken by the hospital administration in consultation with the state government to refer the patient to AIIMS," he said.

"The UP government had also offered a state plane to carry Arunima to New Delhi on Monday

evening itself," he added.

Meanwhile, political parties left no stone unturned to earn brownie points by displaying their sudden sympathy for the young girl, who was a victim of unabated vandalism on passenger trains.

Besides Union Minister Ajay Maken, others who visited Arunima in hospital included state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Bahujan Samaj Party minister Awadh Pal Singh Yadav.

A resident of Ambedkar Nagar, Arunima was pushed out of the general compartment of the Padmawati Express for resisting a chain-snatching attempt by some hoodlums while travelling from Lucknow to Delhi in the early hours of April 12.

Her left leg came under the wheels of another train passing on the parallel rail track.

Railway cops carried her to the local district hospital where she lay injured, traumatised and unconscious for two days, before she could narrate her tale to the cops.

The wide coverage she received in the print and electronic media attracted the attention of Union Railway minister Mamata Banerjee, who promptly offered her a job. Financial assistance followed from UP Chief Minister Mayawati (she gave the athlete Rs 1 lakh) as well as from several other voluntary organizations and individuals.