Lahore:
The condition of Sarabjit Singh, comatose in a Pakistan hospital after a brutal assault in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail last week, has deteriorated, doctors said. Sarabjit has been in prison in Pakistan for 23 years.
"In our latest investigation, there was no sign of improvement (in Sarabjit's condition). Rather, his condition further deteriorated," said Mahmood Shaukat, the head of a four-member medical board which is supervising Sarabjit's treatment.
Sarabjit is in a special Intensive Care Unit of the state-run Jinnah Hospital.
Dr Shaukat said top neurosurgeons and physicians are providing Sarabjit the best treatment to save his life.
A second CT scan on Sarabjit too did not reveal any signs of improvement, he added. "The Glasgow Coma Scale of the patient is being monitored on a daily basis," Dr Shaukat said.
The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) assesses level of consciousness after a profound head injury. The lowest possible GCS score is 3 while the highest is 15. A source said Sarabjit's condition was measured as 5.
Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur today demanded that Indian doctors should be called in to assist in his treatment.
Dalbir made the demand after Jinnah Hospital's Medical Superintendent Ijaz Nisar briefed her and Sarabjit's wife and two daughters on his health on Monday.
Two officials of the Indian High Commission also visited Jinnah Hospital yesterday and met members of the medical board to discuss Sarabjit's treatment.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government has issued show cause notices to seven officials of Kot Lakhpat Jail, including Superintendent Mohsin Rafiq and Additional Superintendents Ishtiaq Ahmed Gill and Sawar Sumera, for failing to protect Sarabjit.
Sarabjit, 49, sustained several injuries, including a skull fracture, when six prisoners attacked him in the jail on Friday. He was hit on the head with bricks and his neck and torso cut with sharp weapons.
He was convicted of alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990.
His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. The outgoing Pakistan People's Party-led government put off Sarabjit's execution for an indefinite period in 2008.
Sarabjit's family says he is the victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border in an inebriated state.