Indian medical body questions move to airlift rape victim

Condoling the death of the gangrape victim, the Indian Medical Association on Saturday questioned the airlifting of the 23-year-old victim to Singapore for advanced treatment and wanted to know whether hospitals in India lack infrastructure to treat such patients.

The IMA sought to ask the government whether the reason to shift the patient was purely for medical purposes or there were other factors.

The paramedic student was airlifted to Singapore on Wednesday night after undergoing treatment for 10 days at the Safdarjung Hospital. Many doctors have questioned the move with some directly attacking the government, saying it was a political move.

K Vijayakumar, president of the IMA, told PTI that a doubt arises in everyone's mind whether the country's premier institutes and hospitals lack infrastructure to treat such patients.

"Indian hospitals have infrastructure at par with their counterparts in other countries. India is emerging as a major centre of medical tourism and obviously the shifting of the girl raises the question whether our hospitals lack the necessary facilities," he asked.

Indian doctors are "equally competent" to handle such cases, Vijayakumar said.

Condoling the death, honorary secretary of IMA Dr Narendra Saini also wanted to know the reasons behind shifting the girl from India to Singapore.

"Is it safe or of any advantage to transfer of patient in this condition? Do our hospitals lack infrastructure or our doctors incompetent to handle such patients or this particular decision was taken for other reasons," he asked.

Both the president and honorary secretary of the IMA demanded that the government come out with some criteria and norms to be followed in cases of transferring patients to other hospitals.