ICU rape case: Police record statements of nurses

AHMEDABAD: Police on Sunday recorded the statements of nurses who were on duty in the

ICU

when a 22-year-old dengue patient was allegedly raped. On Sunday,

Apollo Hospital

authorities issued a statement observing that it was difficult to imagine that the woman could have been

raped

in its ICU, given the system in place.

The complainant had told police earlier that Dr Rajesh Chauhan and a ward boy, Chandrakant Makwana, had raped her twice on September 4 and 5.

Sources in Adalaj police station said that statements of nurses were recorded to learn if they were present in the ICU at the time of the alleged rape. The police have been waiting for DNA report before reaching conclusions. "We have also sent clothes of the accused and that of the survivor for forensic testing, report of which will take nearly 10 days to arrive," said an investigator.

The statement from Apollo

Hospital

authorities read, "ICU patients are continuously monitored, and in this case no elevation of any indicators including cardiac indicators was recorded or were synchronous with the episode described. It is unimaginable that an incident as alleged could happen in such an environment."

The statement from the hospital also observed, "It is very unlikely that such a morbid patient would be assaulted and it is unheard of in medical history."

The statement adds, "The consequences of dengue include bleeding from nose and vagina as a result of low blood platelets. Which may be the case in this patient as well."

"The ICU is in open-ward format and has more than 12 patients at any given time. The staff, at least eight of whom are female nurses, are always present in the ICU," read the statement. "For patients on ventilator, we have a one-to-one nurse ratio, and for female patients, a female nurse is allotted around the clock."

However, when asked if the hospital authority ruled out the alleged incident of rape, they clarified, "We do not rule out any eventuality since active investigations in the case are ongoing. The two staff members remain suspended and we urge the authorities to complete their investigations at the earliest."

Citing clinical and medical literature about ICU psychosis, the hospital authorities stated that patients in ICU do have psychotic spells during which they hallucinate and are disoriented.

The hospital authorities, however, stated that the citing of hallucination in ICU was a generic statement based on medical history, and they were not suggesting that the condition was present in the recent rape allegation.