The suicide of Dr Saraswathi at Gandhi Medical College (GMC), Bhopal in the early hours of July 31, Monday, has come as shocking news for all. She was a third-year PG resident in Gynecology, aged 27 and was 14 weeks pregnant. In her suicide note, which is doing rounds on social media, the doctor alleged that she was taking extreme step due to harassment at the hands of her college faculty.
Her death has opened the gates of condemnation from the medical faculty from all corners of the country, while the Junior Doctors' Association (JUDA) at GMC are on strike since Tuesday, August 1. They have suspended all services at the college, including emergency services from today, August 2. The chief of the medicos' demands the Gynecology Head of Department's (HoD) resignation.
The association is standing in support of the protesting students. "Saraswati was pregnant but she was not allowed to take maternity leave. Her thesis was not being accepted, and she was not allowed to sit for the final exams. This compelled her to take her own life," alleged Dr Lakshya Mittal, Vice-President of the United Doctors' Front Association (UDFA).
Saraswathi was from Andhra Pradesh. On July 31, she was found unconscious by her husband with whom she was residing in the city's Koh-e-Fiza area. The cause of her death was ascertained to be an overdose of anaesthesia. According to the GMC students, the postmortem procedure has now been completed.
"Though she was here for about two days after her death, her friends and family were gathered here and a protest is going on, none of the faculty members came to see her or interact with her family. And Saraswathi had been working with them for three years," claims a first-year PG resident from the Gynecology department, requesting anonymity. With this as an example, the student alleges that the college faculty is severely apathetic towards them.
What are the demands of the protestors?
The students allege that Saraswathi was constantly harassed and verbally abused especially by her HoD. "This toxic environment and negative behaviour were the reason behind her death. This is the second such death by suicide on our campus in the last seven months," says Dr Sanket Site, President of GMC JUDA. These are protesting students' demands:
1. Resignation of the Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology effective immediately.
2. All those who are responsible for this incident are to be suspended from their respective posts until the inquiry is underway.
3. None of these faculties should be internal or external examiners for the next three years
4. Immediate steps should be taken to ensure a healthy working environment and decreased abuse and toxicity in the departments
JUDA has sent letters mentioning these demands to the Dean and Superintendent of GMC Bhopal, the Commissioner of Medical Education (CME), the Directorate of Medical Education (DME), the state health minister and also the chief minister. However, "No action has been taken against the HoD yet," informs Dr Site. He alleges that though the college has communicated to them that "something will be done", no significant step has been taken. GMC JUDA has also not received a reply to their letter.
Speaking further about the incident, Dr Mittal says that even the victim's parents and husband asserted that the HoD had a role to play behind the young doctor's death. "She was not signing her attendance record or her thesis, due to which Saraswathi was not able to write her exams," he alleged. According to the first-year Gynaecology student, since Saraswathi had opted for a medical leave in her first year, she had to stay longer than others to complete the course.
"Her batchmates had passed the exam and left, while she was made to work overtime. She couldn't complain fearing that her thesis won't be accepted. The kind of duty which is assigned to us once in 15 days was assigned to her thrice a week. Her requests and appeals were continuously ignored, and in the end, her thesis, which she had completed, was not considered," the student claimed.
The suicide note from Dr Saraswathi
"My thesis will never be done and these people will never relieve me, no matter what. Even if I put my blood and soul and give everything I have, it is never enough for them," reads the doctor's suicide note. "I have learnt the subject but these people's lack of ethics and toxicity is too much for me to bear with...I'm really sorry," it adds.
When asked about the working environment at the college, the first-year PG resident replies in the affirmative, alleging that it is the worst in the Gynaecology department. "The faculty members abuse us physically and verbally. They beat us with OT instruments. They do not allow us to take leave even if we are sick. We are made to work overtime and are also unable to have proper meals. If we complain, we are threatened with consequences of failing, not being able to write the exams and so on," she claims.
"The toxicity is a vicious cycle because the honest and decent HODs or Deans don’t come out in support of their residents while the toxic Professors / HODs keep silently pressurising their students to the level of typical torture. @NMC_IND needs new reforms for appointment of Heads of depts based upon their record of dealing with students and its reviews with a Harassment cell for such toxic depts !" reads a tweet from health activist Dr Dhruv Chauhan, in support of Dr Saraswathi.
Apart from UDFA, organisations like the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) and the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) have also shown solidarity with the victim.
