Another suicide attempt at Bhopal's GMC, doctors on strike after Dr Bala's death

Bhopal, Aug 4 (IANS) Days after a junior female doctor died by suicide at Madhya Pradesh's prominent Gandhi Medical College (GMC), a medical trainee attempted suicide on Thursday even as junior doctors and teachers of the institution were on strike.

Kartikey Parasar, a resident of Gwalior, who has completed his MBBS course this year and was a trainee at the GMC, was under psychiatric treatment due to depression for the last few months. He consumed an overdose of medicines and got unconscious following which he was admitted to the Hamidia Hospital, the largest government-run hospital in the state and in whose campus the GMC is located.

Parasar's condition was out of danger but he has been kept on regular monitoring by the doctors, a doctor told IANS.

For the past three days, OPD and emergency medical services were suspended at Hamidia Hospital as all junior doctors and medical teachers have gone on protest after the death of Dr. Saraswati Bala.

Around 50-55 surgeries have been postponed in the last 24 hours.

Dr Bala, who hailed from Hyderabad, was 14 weeks pregnant and was pursuing her post-graduation in gynaecology. Her husband has lodged an FIR, alleging that she was under acute pressure as she was regularly harassed by Dr. Aruna Kumar - head of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology in the GMC.

After a meeting held between state Medical Education Minister Viswas Sarang and GMC Dean Dr. Arvind Rai, a decision has been taken to remove Dr. Aruna Kumar from the department on Thursday, sources told IANS.

Dr. Bala was the second female junior doctor died by suicide within a period of seven months at the GMC. On January 24, Akanksha Maheswari, 27, a resident of Gwalior had died by suicide after consuming overdose of anesthesia at her hospital room in the campus.

The GMC, a prominent medical institution of Madhya Pradesh, has set several milestones for medical research, and also is the first medical institution where the state government has introduced the Hindi medium of MBBS as an experiment.