Magura child rape: Condition of 8-yr-old worsens
A doctor from the medical board overseeing her treatment says her brain has "become unresponsive"
The condition of the eight-year-old rape victim from Magura, who is currently undergoing treatment at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka, has worsened again, reports Prothom Alo quoting doctors.
A doctor from the medical board overseeing her treatment told the Bangla daily this morning (11 March) that the child's brain has "become unresponsive" even though her condition had slightly improved yesterday (10 March).
"When the child was attempted to be killed by strangulation during the incident, oxygen supply to the brain was reduced. The child was left in that condition until being taken to the hospital at 11am the following day. As a result, significant brain damage occurred due to the prolonged lack of oxygen," said the doctor.
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The Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS], which measures a person's consciousness level due to brain injury, has again dropped to 3. The normal level is 15, said the doctor.
"A GCS of 3 is considered a state of brain unresponsiveness. The child's GCS had improved from 3 to 5 since yesterday morning, which was considered a slight improvement in the condition," the doctor added.
The eight-year-old child was raped by her sister's father-in-law, who was allegedly helped by his son, at the latter's house last Wednesday night (5 March).
The child was first taken to Magura 250-bed Hospital around 11:30am Thursday (6 March) in an unconscious state by her sister's mother-in-law. Her mother later arrived at the hospital, and by the afternoon, she was transferred to Faridpur Medical College Hospital for better treatment.
That night, she was moved to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where she was placed on life support on Friday night (7 March).
On Saturday evening, she was transferred from DMCH's PICU to CMH for further specialised treatment. A medical board, led by the chief surgeon of CMH, has been formed to oversee her treatment.
The board consists of eight specialist doctors, including experts in paediatric surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, plastic surgery, paediatric neurology, anaesthesia, paediatric cardiology, urology, and thoracic surgery.
Meanwhile, a Magura court has placed the four accused — the victim's sister's father-in-law, Hitu Sheikh, 42; her sister's husband, Sajib Sheikh, 18; mother-in-law Jaheda Khatun, 45; and brother-in-law Ratul Sheikh, 20 — on remand in connection with the case.
Due to security concerns, police could not produce the accused before the court on Sunday (9 March) during the day, leading to a late-night hearing.
