The strike initiated by all 52 junior doctors of the Gynaecology Department on Monday over suicide of Dr Saraswathi at Bhopal’s Gandhi Medical College, continued for the third straight day on Thursday. As of now, 250 junior doctors from Gandhi Medical College have joined the strike in solidarity. Alleging toxic work culture and ill-treatment by the professors, the junior doctors also took out a rally in Hamidia Hospital campus, demanding accountability and justice. The protesters have been demanding resignations of Head of Department (HoD) Gynaecology and Obstetrics as well as other authorities concerned at GMC over Dr Saraswathi’s suicide.

 

Notably, on Monday, a 27-year-old junior doctor of GMC Dr Saraswathi Choudhary, who was 14 weeks pregnant, ended her life by taking an overdose of Anaesthesia injections and sedatives. Her co-workers told that she was distressed, as Dr Aruna Kumar, HoD of the Gynaecology Department was not accepting her thesis. This probably prompted her to take the extreme step, they alleged. They further alleged that we are told that if you want to study here, you should not get married. If someone gets married, then they cannot have a child. Dr Bala Saraswati also hid her pregnancy due to fear of HoD. No one in our department knew that she was pregnant. The girl students have made an anonymous complaint to the police.