More than six months after Burundi national Yannick Nihangaza, studying in a private university in Jalandhar, was brutally assaulted, leaving him in coma, there was a sigh of relief for the family as his health has started improving.
The student was admitted to Columbia Asia Hospital here after he became unconscious following the attack. Since then, his father Nestor Ntibateganya, who arrived from Burundi soon after the incident, has been staying put to take care of his son.

"Yannick has started improving. We don't have words to express our happiness. We are thankful to God and our near and dear ones for their wishes," Yannick's father told Hindustan Times.

Arvind Malhotra, the doctor attending to Yannick since he was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition, confirmed that the 24-year-old had started recognising his father and friends for the past few days.

"Yannick is out of coma now. Infection in some vital organs has improved. He is able to lift his left arm a little. Injuries in his upper brain have also recovered," said the doctor.

Yaanick, immediately after reporting of the attack on the night of April 21, was admitted to Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences in Jalandhar by fellow African students before being admitted to Columbia Asia Hospital in Patiala on April 24.

The latest development has pleased Yannick's father, who struggled to get the case registered against the assailants.

After the media raised the issue, the Punjab government gave a grant of Rs. 5 lakh to the family. Yannick's father said the family would not shift the son from the hospital for the time being.