The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The anesthetic technician who was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a female attendant has admitted to the Royal Bhutan Police of having sexual intercourse with the victim after injecting Fentanyl which is used as an anesthetic drug. According to medical literature the drug in the same quantity is 75 times more powerful than morphine and some variants can be 10,000 times more powerful than morphine.
However, the arrested suspect also claimed that it was ‘consensual’ and that the injection was to calm her ‘apprehension’.
However, the victim in her complaint did not mention being drugged with her consent or agreeing to ‘consensual’ sexual intercourse after being drugged.
The 28-year old female victim from Paro was in the hospital as an attendant to her relative who was admitted in the surgical ward. The initial incident took place on 5th April at around 11 PM when the victim was called into the surgical ward.
The suspect made a call to the surgical room asking the nurse on duty to send the victim to the place near Operation Theater (OT) to draw blood. According to the victim’s statement to the police, she met the suspect who was in a Blue Scrub (operation uniform). He took her into the Pre-Anesthesia Check-up (PAC) room and told her that she needs to donate blood for her patient.
Thereafter, the suspect checked her blood pressure followed by drawing blood. She also said that, the suspect then injected a white fluid after which she became unconscious and since then she could not remember anything.
The victim on regaining her consciousness, found herself sitting on a waiting chair in the corridor. The victim was drowsy and had blurred vision and she also vomited. The victim said that, after a while, she saw a woman walking around whereby she called out for help. The woman who happened to be a doctor took her to the emergency ward.
The forensic medicine department of JDWNRH called the police at 9 am on 6th April the next day for a possible sexual assault case. Thimphu police then apprehended the 30-year old man from his residence on the same day.
Police further said that, the suspect has a past record of stealing TV from the hospital. However, the case was sorted out internally (JDWNRH). The suspect is from Gangzur, Lhuntseand has been detained for further investigation.
The case has sparked national outrage over issues of breach of trust and security of patients and their attendants.
