4 Suspended for Ragging After First-Year Student Dies by Suicide at Surat Medical College
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: Four resident doctors from Surat Medical College were suspended for six months for ragging a first-year student who died by suicide on Sunday (August 9).
A statement issued by the medical college on Monday morning said, “Dr Nirali Vasave, Dr Anuj Maheshwari, Dr Dixit Ghewaria and Dr Hina Bhut have been suspended for six months for disciplinary and serious negligence and have been strictly ordered to vacate the hostel immediately and not to participate in any academic activities.”
The incident involved 9 other first-year students, who had complained of ragging by their seniors, in addition to Dr Harsh Pandya, a 29-year-old first-year PG Microbiology student from the Aravalli district of Gujarat, who was found dead in his hostel room on Sunday.
The anti-ragging committee of the college met from 8 pm on Sunday night till 4 am on Monday, before announcing the decision to suspend the students at dawn, the Indian Express reported.
Faculty members including the head of the microbiology department have been issued show-cause notices.
“Show cause notices have been issued to four faculty members; Dr Sangeeta Rajde, Dr Yogita Mistry and Dr Latika Purohit, including the head of the Microbiology Department,” the college’s official statement said.
“The entire report of the Anti-Ragging Committee has been unanimously approved by the College Council, and after a serious review, an official report has been submitted to the State Government early this morning to prevent the recurrence of such reprehensible incidents in the future,” it added.
Minister of State for Health Praful Pansheriya set up a high-level committee on Sunday under the joint chairmanship of the Dean and Medical Superintendent of the Civil Hospital, to which the medical college is affiliated, based on the complaint of nine first-year resident doctors and the father of the deceased, the paper reported.
The students have, in writing, complained against these four suspended resident doctors, accusing them of mental harassment, verbal abuse, and indecent behaviour, according to the report.
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