NIT Durgapur student dies on campus, students protest against ‘apathy’ by authorities
NIT Durgapur students march to director’s bungalow post the death of the student
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Prosenjit had appeared for the first paper of his 7th-semester exam. “He was suffering from a headache for the last two days, and soon after his first paper was done, he visited the Medical Unit (MU) in the campus for treatment. But the doctor was unavailable until 5 p.m,” said one student who was his batchmate. Around 5 p.m. the doctor prescribed pills as well as put him on three bottles of saline. He was discharged close to 8 p.m.
“He returned to the hostel and had his dinner. But after a while, his room-mates found him lying on the floor and vomiting in his room. They took him back to the MU, and the doctor suggested that he should be taken to the Mission Hospital in the city because his pulse was low around 9.30 p.m.,” said another student in his fourth-year. But, the students allege that the ambulance of the MU itself was delayed and that they had to take Prosenjit in an auto rickshaw.
“He was declared dead on arrival by the doctors in the Mission Hospital. He was dead for over an hour. It is appalling that the Medical Officer in the institute couldn’t diagnose his condition and its seriousness,” added the student.
When PaGaLGuY spoke to the Medical Officers of MU, Dr. B. Sarkar, and Dr.S. Patra, they both refused to comment on the incident.
Police called to handle student protests in NIT Durgapur campus
The students have been protesting against the administration outside the bungalow of Director, Prof. Tarkeshwar Kumar, until this morning. “The director did not come out of his house. The police was called in the campus as well. It’s almost one day since his death, but the Director has not met us. We shall continue to protest against the administration and their lack of apathy even tomorrow,” said a first-year student in the Electrical Engineering department.
PaGaLGuY spoke to the Student Affairs Dean, Prof. A.K Bhattacharya, about the situation in the campus. “We have constituted a committee to investigate into the incident. We cannot allege that the cause of death is due medical negligence, or because of lack of proper medical care by the Medical Officer in the campus,” he said. He also confirmed that the students have been protesting and that the police was called in to handle the situation in case it went out of hand.
When the Director, Tarakesh Kumar was contacted, PaGaLGuY was told that the Director is unwell due to high blood pressure and could not comment.
PaGaLGuY also spoke to another student who passed out of NIT Durgapur a year ago. He alleged, that he was prescribed a high dosage of medication for a condition which was not so serious. He further added that his health deteriorated to such an extent, in his first semester, that he almost missed his semester examination. He claims it took him a month to recuperate.
Update: A follow-up of this story is published here.