The victim, Dr Siddharth Shankar Mahapatra, 26, was found hanging by the ceiling fan at the apartment that he shared with two other RML doctors
A first-year post-graduate student of the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital committed suicide at his residence in the Old Rajindra Nagar area on Monday. The victim, Dr Siddharth Shankar Mahapatra, 26, was found hanging by the ceiling fan at the apartment that he shared with two other RML doctors.
Hailing from Odisha, Mahapatra was with the Department of Anesthesiology at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) at RML Hospital and had joined in May, 2017. The police received the information regarding the suicide at 8.38 am on Monday, after which the body was shifted to the RML Hospital.
"He had been performing well. He never had any issue with the faculty or his batch mates. He had been undergoing electroconvulsive therapy for depression for the last 3-4 years. He did not have many friends but was doing good academically," RML Hospital spokesperson Smriti Tiwari said.
"He had given a presentation on September 12, which had gone very well. We are very shocked and have informed his parents," she added.
According to Mahapatra's colleagues, however, he was finding it hard to cope with the work stress. Police said they were yet to ascertain why he took the extreme step. "His body was brought in the casualty around noon. After the initial check-up, we sent it to the RML mortuary around 4 pm," the doctor-in-charge said.
Soon after the incident, doctors at the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) alleged that the cases of stress and suicide among doctors from the Anesthesia Department were increasing.
"There is something drastically wrong with the working pattern of Anesthesia residents — long working hours without breaks, pathetic workplace conditions, no time for family life. Many residents are on the verge of this kind of step," Doctor Vijay Gurjar, RDA General Secretary, AIIMS, said.
Senior Anesthetist at the Lady Hardinge Medical College, Dr Jai Prakash, also alleged that the work pressure on Anesthesia doctors was a lot more. "We are made to work more hours. As per the Supreme Court orders, we should only do 40 hours of ICU duty, which may extend to 48 hours if needed, but we are made to work for at least 60 hours," he said.
A suicide note recovered later stated: "This is horrible. All I want to do is live like a bird, flying independently throughout the world, exploring the beauty of nature. The sense of pleasure, happiness is what is lost from my life. I want to sleep in the lap of mother nature. I hate this life like a prisoner. I want to be a tree. I want to get out of the delusion. I want my body to energise."
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