Student admitted in ICU after march — corridors in RML quieter, security tighter

Several attendants said the atmosphere outside the ICU had changed since Monday.

Until a day earlier, they said, relatives could move in and out of the fifth floor with relative ease. Since Sakshi’s admission, they said, security had become noticeably tighter. Now, attendants waited outside until hospital staff called them in during designated visiting hours.

“Earlier, it was much easier to meet our loved ones,” said an attendant whose mother has been in the ICU for the past eight days after suffering seizures. “Now everything has become strict. Unless the hospital staff allow it, nobody is allowed inside.”

Until shortly before noon, Sakshi’s family had been among those waiting in the same corridor.

Her brother, Manish, sat quietly on the staircase after spending the night at the hospital. Speaking in short, measured sentences, he said he had barely slept.

“She had come to Delhi for sightseeing,” he said. “The next thing we heard was from the hospital.”
A few minutes later, the ICU doors opened again.

Sakshi’s mother stepped out. Dressed in a yellow suit with a dupatta covering her head, she walked slowly towards the lift, her eyes fixed on the floor.

One of her sons asked Manish to gather Sakshi’s belongings – a blue-striped bedsheet, a small brown pillow, two bags and a medical file — from the staircase. As the family prepared to leave, they walked silently towards the lift.
Later that afternoon, as journalists gathered outside the ICU hoping to speak with them, hospital staff escorted the family away from the corridor to a private room. The staff later said they had gone to meet the hospital director.

According to sources, Sakshi suffered asphyxia in a stampede-like situation that broke out after teargas shells were fired and protesters began running. She also sustained injuries to her face, chest and neck, the sources said.

When Sakshi was brought to the hospital on Monday, her family said she was placed on ventilator support.

By Tuesday evening, however, the family said her condition had improved significantly. She was conscious, well-oriented and had been taken off the ventilator after doctors told them she was no longer in critical condition.
“We are hopeful she will be discharged soon,” a family member said.