Fwd: Students speak: IIT-, following a student's death of medical neglect

[piyush vijay]

 

 

subject : death of a student at iit kharagpur

This Sunday, the 22nd of March, shall go down as a black day in the
history of IIT, Kharagpur. It was with great sadness and considerable
anger that the residents of the campus received news of the demise of
one of its own; third year Electrical Engineering student, Rohit
Kumar. A resident of the LLR Hall of Residence, Rohit had been
visiting the hospital since Friday, the 20th of March, complaining of
headaches. On Sunday, the headaches became increasingly painful and it
was on his way back from the doctor that he fainted and fell from the
rickshaw, resulting in major injuries. Following this, he was taken to
BC Roy hospital by two students of LLR. The doctor on duty (who was
present at the time when Rohit was taken to the hospital), Dr. N.K.
Som, recommended that he be taken to Apollo Hospital, Kolkata and
shown to a neurosurgeon. He stated that BC Roy did not have facilities
to handle such cases and that it was best to take him to Kolkata as
soon as possible. However, problems (such as filling of petrol) and
the extensive paperwork involved in arranging an ambulance caused a
delay of 2 hours during the course of which nothing much could be
done.

He was finally sent on his way to Kolkata with 2 students for company
and an untrained attendant. En route it was realized that though the
oxygen mask had been placed over his mouth, the tank had still not
been turned on. Soon after this, Rohit started coughing up blood. The
students who accompanied him had the attendant call up Dr. Som and the
students followed his instructions; pumping out blood without any help
from the attendant. At the time, it was decided to take Rohit to the
Spandan Hospital in Midnapore since his condition was deteriorating
rapidly. In spite of asking the BC Roy officials to call ahead and
inform Spandan of the impending arrival, there was no one there to
receive them. By the time a doctor was found, Rohit had passed away
and the hospital declared him dead on arrival. At present, his body
lies in the mortuary at Midnapore medical college.

This isn't a one time instance.
The dismal state of affairs at BC Roy Technology Hospital has been an
issue of concern for ages now.
Complaints of incorrect diagnosis and lack of medical equipment to
attend to emergencies have been rampant for decades.

The foundation stone for a super-specialty hospital was laid by Dr. A
P J Abdul Kalam, on one of these visits to the campus as the President
of India
However, the project has been put on hold, for reasons unstated.

This year, a fresh move to better interaction between students and
administration has been the initiation of Open House Discussions.
Students strongly voiced their need for better medical attention in
case of emergencies in both of such interactions held till date.
In response to every single instance of a BC Roy screw-up has been a
"We will look into it."
All false promises.

This unfortunate demise of our friend saw the epitome of it all.
Patience snapped and pursuance adopted a new stance.

All the students gathered outside the Director's Bungalow, demanding
an explanation for turning a deaf ear to our pleas in the past.
His vague"we'll look into it" and the insensitive "It's no big deal"
ignited our temper.

The peaceful protest took a violent shade as students chanted for his
resignation.
It is rather disheartening to note that our revolution for survival
has been portrayed as an ugly act of vandalism
we have been tagged hooligans in most of your leading newspapers, n
all for demanding the Director to take moral responsibility and resign
from his post.


We lost a comrade, we lost a friend.
He died in his teens ... n it wasn't just the injury that killed him.

We are not the vandals and hooligans as portrayed by the media to the
world beyond the campus.
We are students, seeking a better life.

This forward is our attempt to get across to the world, the true story.
If you believe in our cause and purpose, please forward this mail in
your friends list


A more detailed account of the incident :
http://grassonfire.blogspot.com/2009/03/rohit-kumar-will-be-remembered.html
For a Situation Update : http://209.97.214.175/~scholars/wordpress/

Help us get our voice across.
Please spread this message.

Thanking you,
IIT-Kharagpur.

--
-- Do right and fear no one --