NEW DELHI: “Mujhe bacha lo…main jeena chahti hoon (Save me…I want to live),” is what the 23-year-old gang rape victim told her family, according to the girl’s brother. Though she is still incapable of speaking, she also made enquiries about her family and the condition of her male friend through scribbled notes.

Doctors attending to her described her as a fighter who is battling horrifying damage to her body. Though her condition has deteriorated in the past 24 hours — doctors had to completely remove her intestine as it had turned gangrenous — her family is still hoping that she will defy the odds and survive. She is getting massive shots of morphine to help her cope with excruciating pain. “The attackers should be given the death penalty ,” said her brother.

The family was banking on the victim for financial assistance as her two younger brothers –18 and 20 years of age— are still studying. Her father works with a private firm as a loader at IGI Airport . “Her father told me they had spent all their savings on her education and were hoping she would financially support the family. They were hoping that after her internship, she would get a good job,” said Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta.

The medical condition of the gang rape victim is not good. “We monitored her condition on Tuesday night, but we had to operate upon her as the infection had spread to the rest of the intestine. The intestine had turned gangrenous,” said B D Athani, medical superintendent, Safdarjung Hospital.

Just before she was wheeled into the operation theatre, her mother and brothers met her.

In a two-hour long surgery which started at 10am, doctors performed two crucial procedures – duodenostomy and gastrostomy. First duodenostomy was performed in which the infected intestines were removed and a direct opening into the duodenum – first section of the small intestine – was made through the abdominal wall. After this, doctors performed gastrostomy in which a tube was put through the abdomen wall into the stomach. The tube is used for feeding or drainage.

“In duodenostomy, we have connected the duodenum to the abdominal wall. We have made a permanent opening in the abdomen, through which the waste will be drained out. The damage to the intestine is permanent. With the intestine removed, she will be on intravenous fluids for life. We are giving her antibiotics to control the infection. We have also put tubes for feeding her,” said a senior doctor, who was part of the team which operated upon her.

Doctors say that her condition is critical but stable. At 1pm she was taken to the ICU. Due to the effect of anesthesia, doctors say, she was feeling drowsy till late in the evening. “We have to wait and watch how she responds to the surgery. She is on full ventilator support. We are monitoring her vital parameters like blood pressure, pulse, urine output and respiration. We are maintaining her blood pressure through inotropic drugs. We don’t plan to do any more surgeries for the next two days,” said a doctor.

She has been on ventilator for nearly 72 hours now. Doctors say, if she continues to require ventilator support, then tracheotomy would be performed to insert the ventilator tubes through her neck into the windpipe. Her chances of developing lung infection are high.

Doctors at the hospital say that she is a fighter. “To survive the trauma she was subjected to is unbelievable. She is fighting with all her spirit. The surgeries performed on her are very complicated. A portion of the intestine had come out due to the trauma. Just 15 inches of the small intestine was left inside when she was brought to the hospital of which we had removed during the first surgery. Today, we removed the rest,” said a doctor, who has been closely monitoring her condition.

Meanwhile, VIPs visited the hospital to meet the family and enquire about her health. On Wednesday, Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad , Union women and child development minister Krishna Tirath , Congress MP Renuka Choudhary and a group of lawyers visited her.