Medical student attempts suicide in Warangal; father alleges harassment by senior
A first-year postgraduate medical student allegedly attempted suicide on Wednesday, February 22 at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital in Warangal. The victim has been identified as Dharavathi Preethi from the Kakatiya Medical College (KMC). Her father has alleged that she was being harassed by her senior.
Preethi was reported to have injected herself with heavy doses of anaesthesia and was found lying down by senior doctors at the hospital. After she failed to respond to treatments, she was shifted to a hospital in Hyderabad. "A team of senior doctors tried to save her in the hospital. However, she suffered from multi-organ failure, so we immediately shifted her to NIMS Hospital for better treatment," said Dr V Chandrasekhar, Superintendent of MGM Hospital, as per a report by The New Indian Express.
According to Preethi's father, Dharavathi Narender, four days ago a senior student, Dr Saif harassed his daughter on the pretence of discharging duties in the MGM Hospital. Both Preethi and he are currently pursuing a PG degree in Anaesthesia at KMC under the supervision of Dr K Nagarjuna Reddy. Narender lodged a formal complaint with the Mattewada Police over the phone after his daughter told him about what happened.
The police called KMC Principal Dr Mohandas regarding the harassment issue and asked him to take appropriate measures. However, Dr Saif continued harassing Preethi during duty hours at the MGM Hospital, the father alleged. On Wednesday, Preethi requested permission to leave early, however, Saif didn't even permit her to go to the washroom. She later went into the staff room and took the extreme step, Narender said.
He added, "There are many false allegations being circulated on social media targeting my daughter. Preeti called me many times and complained that a senior student has been harassing her. I asked her to come back but she never listened because we do not have that kind of money to afford a PG seat in another college."
"She also mentioned that if there are any complaints from the senior, she might not get a satisfactory certificate and even lose marks. She appealed to me not to complain to anyone," he said further. Narender also claimed that failure on the part of Dr Mohandas and Dr Chandrasekhar was the reason for Preethi's action. "Had the higher authorities taken action immediately against the senior PG student Saif, my daughter wouldn't have attempted suicide," he stated.
The KMC principal admitted that they tried counselling Dr Saif after receiving a complaint from Preethi's father. "We have also constituted a committee to conduct a detailed enquiry. It will submit a report to the Mattewada police," he said. On the other hand, Dr Saif in his defence, said, "I just cautioned Preethi not to write others' records, which might damage her career," during the initial investigation.
Warangal Commissioner of Police AV Ranganath stated that the Mattewada police had registered a case against Dr Saif under the SC/ST Atrocities Act and a probe was being conducted. "We have got access to the victim's phone records. Every possible source will be questioned," he commented, as per TNIE.
