Doctor who ended life was ‘polite, sincere’

Doctor who ended life was ‘polite, sincere’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  22.07.2020

Polite, sincere and studious -- that is how a senior government doctor remembered Dr Kannan, the postgraduate doctor who jumped to his death from the third floor of the men’s hostel at Government Stanley Medical College on Monday. “It has been only 50 days since he joined Stanley Medical College. I had felt very happy for him, since it is a prestigious institute for reconstructive surgery,” said the doctor, under whom Dr Kannan had interned for a month at Government Thanjavur Medical College.

While his seniors remembered him as polite and reserved, his juniors and friends said he used to motivate others and was a positive person. “We used to refer to him as a genius in our friends’ circle. Since his family runs a restaurant, we used to be treated often with varieties of food. We cannot believe that he took this extreme step,” said a friend from Dr Kannan’s hometown, Udumalpet.

Colleagues and seniors ToI spoke to said that he usually kept to himself and they were not aware of the problems in his mind.

Reacting to the incident, Doctors Association for Social Equality (DASE) has sought a detailed enquiry by the state government. Dr G Ravindranath, general secretary for DASE, said that PG assistants and trainee doctors are made to work for 24-hour to 36-hour shifts, which cause physical and mental stress.

The association has sought to regularise working hours in government hospitals and the formation of a grievance redress mechanism to hear the issues faced by young doctors.

A senior doctor at Government Stanley hospital said that Dr Kannan was not on Covid-19 duty and he was shifted to general ward on July 14 and dismissed the allegations about excess duty hours.

City police too are probing other reasons by investigating family and friends as no suicide note was left behind by the doctor.