Nurse assault - 'Lucky to survive, but attack left indelible scar'

Dengue patient Subir Saha, who smashed the skull of a nurse and attacked two others at the All Asia Medical Institute on thursday , remained untraced almost 40 hours after the incident. The condition of two of them, who are being treated at the Institute of Neurosciences Kolkata, continues to remain critical. TOI spoke to Shipra Mandal, one of the nurses who escaped with 18 stitches on the head and her palm. Here's what she had to say.

I was on duty in the ICU on the second floor of the nur sing home with colleagues Thokchom Victoria and Margaret Mandal. It was around 5.30am and we were tired after a round of the ward. Suddenly, Margaret's call for help jolted me out of my slumber. The next thing I saw was the patient hitting Victoria on her head with the saline stand. He kept raining blows on her even after she slumped on the ground.

I was numbed at the gory sight of a colleague being smothered. I knew I had to be on my feet if I had to escape the

attack

.I shouted at him so that he gets distracted and stop hitting Margaret. He did retreat but only for seconds. He suddenly lunged at me. I felt a blow on my head. When the second blow came raining down, I tried to stop him. The hooks on the saline stand pierced my palms.

By now, I realized I would not be able to defend either Margaret or myself. So I rushed to the ground floor where the RMO and security guards were present. By the time the RMO reached the second floor, the patient had dropped the rod and was trying to flee. On being challenged, the man picked up a pair of scissors and aimed it at the RMO and managed to escape, threatening all along.

Thokchom Victoria and Margaret Mandal

I shudder at the very thought of the brutal assault. He was admitted only about eight hours ago and I had not noticed anything unusual about him.The only odd thing I noticed was he had taken out the chest lead that was being used for monitoring his parameters. It was around 2.30am. I placed it back, telling him that it was important for his treatment.

Iwish I could read his mind.We found him cooperating but he did not talk much. Sometimes patients do complain if they are in severe pain. But there was no hint of anything of that sort. God knows why he did this to us.

I am lucky to have escaped with 18 stitches. Imagine the condition of Victoria and Margaret. I might recover from the physical injury . But the attack will leave an

indelible scar

in my mind.

(As told to Sumati Yengkhom)