Doctor suicide: Seniors suspended

Mumbai: Three resident doctors from civic-run Nair Hospital’s Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) branch have been suspended over their alleged involvement in abetting the suicide of a 26-year-old female doctor.

Around 450 doctors at Mumbai’s civic-run Nair Hospital and Medical College gathered for a condolence meet at their auditorium to pay their respects to Dr Payal Tadvi who committed suicide.

A letter which was circulated by the organisation.  stated that after carrying out inquiries at various levels, it was learnt that  the relatives of Dr Payal have alleged that three resident doctors, Dr Hema Ahuja, Dr Bhakti Mehare and Dr Ankita Khandilwal, from the OBGY department had harassed her, causing the doctor to take the drastic step.

Dr Kalyani Dongre, central president of MARD, said, “We, the Nair branch of MARD, are suspending Dr Ahuja, Dr Mehare and Dr Khandilwal. Also, we have demanded the suspension of the head of unit, Dr Chingling, for not taking prompt action at the right time when she was approached by Dr Payal and her family.”

“We strongly condemn such acts and will not tolerate them. We, along with central MARD, are taking measures such as starting a sensitisation orientation programme for first, second and third year resident doctors respectively, along with the provision of help line numbers. We will also hold frequent counselling sessions for our residents in order to prevent such unfortunate incidents in the future.”

Taking a note of the incident, Girish Mahajan, state Cabinet minister of state medical education, stated that new rules and regulations would soon be created on the issue of ragging in the state. The state health department has formed a committee to frame new rules and regulations. A three-member committee will be set up to examine the rules on ragging.

Mr Mahajan said, “We will take cognisance to ensure that such incidents don’t happen again. We will make amendments to the law and we have also taken the necessary measures to set up the preventive mechanism efficiently.”

Dr Payal had committed suicide after facing  harassment by the three seniors over her caste. The accused had also formed a WhatsApp group to pass casteist slurs on her.