Preeti Rathi, the 25-year-old woman who fell victim to an acid attack at the Bandra railway station in Mumbai, is said to be in critical condition after one of her lungs collapsed.
Doctors at Bombay Hospital, where Rathi is being treated at, said on Wednesday that her condition has worsened ever since the attack on 2 May.
"The acid had entered her oesophagus, wind pipe and trachea. Her right lung has collapsed, while there is a hole in her left lung and it is only partially functional. We have put her on a machine that is supporting her lung functions," Dr Ashok Gupta at told The Times of India,
Rathi is presently receiving cardiac and respiratory support through Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a technique used in extreme conditions where medicines and ventilators fail to respond.
She was shifted from Masina Hospital to Bombay Hospital on Wednesday as her health was rapidly deteriorating.
An enraged Roshni, the victim's mother, told Indian Express, "She has been in hospital for 20 days but her condition is worsening. Doctors there only treated her external wounds and did not concentrate on internal wounds, which are quite serious. She has been running fever for several days and also contracted a chest infection. The authorities (at Masina Hospital) should have told us they do not have facilities to treat her further."
Doctors said her fragile condition allowed no scope of operation at the moment, adding that keeping her alive was their main priority.
Meanwhile, her family has accused the Government Railway Police (GRP) of being incapable of handling the case as there has been no valid lead even after three weeks of the brutal acid attack.
The family alleges that the officials have nabbed a wrong person and there has been laxity on their part.
Rathi's father has requested Maharahtra Home minister RR Patil to take the case away from the GRP. "We want it to be handed over to either the state Crime Investigation Department of Central Bureau of Investigation as the GRP are not investigating it properly," he told IANS.
Rathi, a Delhi resident, received major burn injuries after an unidentified youth threw acid on her face. She had come down to Mumbai to join the Army Hospital as a nurse.
