Fifty-two-year-old Sanaullah Ranjay the Pakistani prisoner, who was attacked and seriously injured on Friday, remains in a critical condition at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here. India granted consular access to him and a three-member team of Pakistani High Commission officials visited the prisoner twice on Saturday.
“Pakistan High Commission officials visited the injured prisoner Sanaullah at 3:30 am and again later in the day. They also met the doctors attending on the prisoner,’’ said a hospital staff.
Sources said the condition of Sanaullah remained critical. He has been detected with head injuries with a large fracture. CT scan showed multiple contusions with severe brain edema (brain capillaries damaged due to head injury). He is on a ventilator, remains in coma and is on dopamine and noradrenaline infusions to maintain his blood pressure. His urine output appears to be adequate and further treatment including neurosurgical intervention will depend on his stabilisation and neurological status.
He is being looked after by a team of neurosurgeons and doctors at PGIMER’s Trauma ICU, where security has been tightened.
“The doctors have given a very pessimistic prognosis of Sanaullah’s recovery or survival and rule out prospects of his medical evacuation,” said an official. Sanaullah was injured in a scuffle with another inmate in a Jammu jail, where he was serving life term after being convicted under TADA provisions. He was arrested in 1999. A resident of Sialkot in Pakistan, Sanaullah was immediately shifted from high-security Kot Balwal jail to Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu and later rushed to PGIMER here in an air ambulance after doctors said his condition was critical.
The Chandigarh police is not taking any chances and deployed heavy police force on the hospital campus. At least ten police vehicles were parked near the Nehru Hospital and New OPD block. Senior superintendent of police, Chandigarh, Naunihal Singh, monitored the security arrangements.
A medical bulletin released by the hospital late in the evening stated that the patient had metabolic alterations and coagulation abnormalities, which were being taken care of by specialists. His blood pressure had been going down, so a third vasopressor had to be added in the late morning. His neurological status continues to be the same as yesterday — in a deep coma and on a ventilator.