Injured woman diplomat leaves for Israel

Tal Yehoshua, the Israeli woman diplomat who suffered spine and liver injuries in Monday's bomb attack in the capital, was on Friday discharged from a hospital in New Delhi. She has left for her home country.

Undergoing treatment at the Primus Super Specialty hospital since Monday night, 40-year-old Tal, wife of the Israeli defence attache, was whisked away in an ambulance from the back gate of the hospital today at 4.25 pm to avoid the media glare.

Tal, who underwent surgeries in the spine and liver, was taken on a stretcher to the ambulance.

According to doctors at the hospital, she left for Israel in an air ambulance.

Dr Arun Bhanot, chief of spine surgery at the hospital, said, "We discharged her after our team of multi-specialty doctors attending on her felt she was medically fit. We got an intimation from the embassy asking us if she can be discharged. We agreed as her condition had improved and she was recovering well.

"She will be taken to Israel today in an air ambulance. We discharged her when we saw that the staff of air ambulance was confident that she could be flown back without any harm to her wounds," he said.

"On Monday evening after the blast, she was brought to the hospital and was bleeding profusely. A shrapnel measuring 1.5cm from the blast site had got stuck in her spine and was putting pressure on the nerve. Another shrapnel had cut her liver, which led to heavy bleeding," he said.

Bhanot said, "Because the pressure was on the nerves of the spine, she had become paralytic in the left leg when she was brought here. We removed the shrapnel, fixed the spine and also managed her liver. The paralysis in her leg has partially recovered. In another two weeks time, we are hopeful she will be able to walk around."

During the course of her recovery, Bhanot said that the diplomat was very co-operative.

"She was very cheerful and grateful for the treatment she received here," he said.

As Tal Yehoshua-Koren was discharged from the hospital, Delhi police's Special Cell recorded her statement. Senior police officials, however, refused to divulge the details.

Earlier in her preliminary statement, sources said, the diplomat had said she had not seen the motorcycle-borne attacker, who stuck the bomb on her vehicle at Aurangzeb Road and sped away.