Raj Bala, the victim of the pre-dawn melee at the Ramlila Grounds on Sunday who received spinal injuries, is still critical at the G.B. Pant hospital in the capital. Raj Bala, 51, is one of the 71 people injured in the pre-dawn eviction at the Ramlila Grounds, where yoga guru Ramdev was holding his indefinite hungerstrike.
According to the doctors at the hospital, Raj Bala is still in critical condition and under continuous monitoring. “She is on ventilator support. However, she is fully conscious and is responding to simple verbal commands. She is quadriplegic and is on drugs to maintain blood pressure. She is in ICU-17 and is under the observation of Dr Sanjiv Sinha,” a doctor with G.B. Pant hospital said.
“Raj Bala underwent surgery on Sunday. After investigations we found that she had a post traumatic fracture dislocation C4-C5 with quadriplegia. We have done a decompression and fixation using plate, screw and cage,” he said.
Her daughter-in-law is very concerned about her health. “The doctors say recovery from paralysis is rare.”
Officials at the G.B. Pant Hospital are, however, reluctant to say how many more victims of the police action are still warded at the hospital. “We can tell you more on this on Tuesday only,” Dr Gururaja said.
All the injured were first taken to the LNJP hospital. Of the 71 patients, 31 were admitted to the LNJP hospital while four were shifted to the RML hospital and one (Raj Bala) was sent to the G.B. Pant hospital. All have been discharged except only two patients, including Raj Bala, who continues to undergo treatment. A doctor with the LNJP hospital said, “The person who was operated upon for his skull fracture is responding well. He is the only one admitted with us till now and is undergoing treatment”.