AHMEDABAD: A fresh complaint alleging ragging and harassment in the Surgery Department of Gujarat’s Surat Civil Hospital has prompted an urgent anti-ragging probe, days after the alleged suicide of resident doctor Harsh Pandya put the hospital administration on high alert.
While the Anti-Ragging Committee has so far found no direct evidence of ragging in the latest complaint, allegations of excessive workload, leave-related issues, academic difficulties and harassment by seniors have raised fresh concerns over the working environment for resident doctors.
The complaint was received on the evening of August 27, when the Dean’s office at Surat Civil Hospital received an anonymous petition in a sealed cover alleging ragging and harassment in the Surgery Department. Given the seriousness of the allegations and the recent death of Pandya, the hospital administration immediately launched an inquiry.
First, senior officers of the Surgery Department were called for an urgent meeting. Subsequently, the Anti-Ragging Committee and its squad were activated, and the allegations were examined in detail. The inquiry continued late into the night as committee members questioned doctors and reviewed the circumstances surrounding the complaint.
The anonymous petition alleged that resident doctors in the department were facing a heavy workload, difficulty obtaining leave, academic pressure and repeated harassment by senior doctors. However, after the preliminary inquiry, the Anti-Ragging Committee said it had not found direct evidence of ragging involving a resident doctor.
Despite the finding, the administration has decided not to take the matter lightly. Officials said the Surgery Department will remain under continuous monitoring, with particular attention to the working conditions and performance of resident doctors.
Surat Civil Hospital in-charge Dean Nimesh Verma said the anonymous complaint was treated seriously immediately after it reached the administration.
He said the complaint alleged ragging and other forms of harassment involving a resident doctor from the Surgery Department, following which the department was asked to provide a detailed explanation and the anti-ragging committee and squad were activated.
According to Verma, doctors in the department were questioned during the inquiry, while the resident doctor who had raised concerns was given an opportunity to discuss the issues with the PG teacher and other faculty members.
Verma said the resident later appeared before the college council and stated that his concerns had been addressed and that he had no further complaints.
The Dean added that the resident had raised concerns about working hours, teaching and leave, all of which were subsequently addressed.
Earlier, the Gujarat health department suspended Dr Sumaiya Mulla, head of the Microbiology Department at Government Medical College, Surat, for 90 days over alleged lapses in preventing ragging linked to Dr Harsh Pandya’s death. She has been directed to serve the suspension at Government Medical College, Vadodara. An anti-ragging inquiry had accused four senior students, who were suspended for six months and booked by police on charges including wrongful confinement and mental harassment.
The administration’s preliminary finding may have ruled out direct evidence of ragging in the fresh complaint, but the case has nevertheless intensified scrutiny of the hospital’s postgraduate training environment. With the earlier death still casting a shadow over the institution, the administration now faces the challenge of ensuring that complaints about workload, academics, leave and alleged harassment do not remain buried behind anonymous petitions.
