Tibetan youth battles for life in government hospital

Jamphel Yeshi, the Tibetan youth who set himself on fire at an anti-China protest ahead of the BRICS summit, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Monday, is stated to be in a very critical condition.

The condition of the 27-year-old, who was admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital with over 90 per cent burns, is very critical

A native of Tibet, Yeshi had been living in Majnu ka Tila, a Tibetan settlement in Delhi, since 2006. He was staying with distant cousins.

Yeshi, bandaged head to toe, is lying unconscious in the Intensive Care Unit.

His friends and colleagues from Tibetan Youth Congress, meanwhile, are seeking a second opinion on his condition.

Teyki, one of Yeshi's friends and a student at the St Stephens hospital, has been making frantic calls to the burns department of a few other government hospitals in the city. She says, "He is in a really bad condition. I can say that because I too work in a hospital."

"I do not know how well he will be taken care of in a government hospital. We need to speak to other hospitals," she says while speaking with a doctor at the Ganga Ram Hospital.

A few minutes later, she put downs the phone, looking grim.

The doctor had just told her that Yeshi's chances of surviving are bleak.

A few members of the Tibetan Youth Congress are seated at the waiting room area of the RML hospital. Its former president, Dorjee Tseten says that their protests in the capital will go on.

"Section 144 has been evoked at Majnu ka Tila, Bodh Nagar, and at the Tibetan Youth Centre at Rohini -- three major Tibetan settlements in the city," he informs, adding, "But we will continue with our protests."