A 31-year-old resident was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his hostel room at Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) here on Sunday. Punjagutta police, who are investigating the case, said that it was a suicide and not suspicious death. They said they did not find any suicide note.
Adding mystery to the case is the fact that the student was extremely popular in the college. More than 50 persons gathered at the mortuary to have a last glimpse of Dr P Siva Teja Reddy. It was unusual as none in that big crowd was a member of his family. The whole crowd consisted of the institute's staff members. In the short span of six months, he became popular with his colleagues and staff including ward boys and nurses. As a resident doctor, he was a man of few words but went out of the way to help patients.
"He donated a printer which was installed in the hospital so that patients or attendants need not go out of the hospital to get photocopies of medical documents," said Dr Srikanth Devaraya, vice-president of NIMS Resident Doctors Association (RDA).
Ward boys and nurses recalled that he dug deep for repair of wheelchairs or purchase of medical consumables for patients if they ran out of money. "He did not have even an ounce of pride of being a doctor. Dr Siva Teja used to behave like he was one among the ward boys and nurses. He would patiently explain prescription in detail to patients or their attendants if they were not literate. The crowd now is, in fact, thin as not everyone has come to know of his death," remarked a staffer.
The deceased, Dr P Siva, hailed from Tanuku in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh and was pursuing first year DM (Neurology) course at the institute. He joined the course in September last year and moved to the institute's hostel just around a week ago.
As part of the medicine course, right from MBBS internship to super-specialty course, medicos provide medical services atthe hospital. The young doctor's morning duty was scheduled for around 7 am on Sunday. But repeated calls from his colleagues went unanswered. His room-mate Preetham Reddy, upon completing his night duty, reached the hostel room and got no response when he knocked on the door. He broke open the ventilator glasses to look inside and found Siva Teja hanging by the bed sheet tied to the ceiling fan.
"We received a call around 8.45 am. He is suspected to have died between 5.30 am and 8.30 am. It is not a suspicious death. The body is preserved at the NIMS mortuary and will be sent for post-mortem examination tomorrow (Monday). His father Appi Reddy and mother Kavitha went to the USA to be with Siva Teja's sister who has delivered a baby recently," said D Srikanth Goud, sub-inspector at Punjagutta police station.
Teja's cousin Karuna said the parents were informed about the death and they would reach Hyderabad by Monday evening. Kavitha's sister and other relatives reached the hospital.
