Dr Preethi’s death: Warangal’s medical college HoD transferred, anti-ragging panel faults Dr Saif for harassment

Dr Preethi, a first-year MD student of Kakatiya Medical College, was found lying unconscious in the staff room of MGM hospital in Warangal on February 22 where she was on duty. She died five days later.

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Dr K Nagarjuna Reddy, head of the department of Anaesthesia at Warangal’s Kakatiya Medical College (KMC), was Thursday transferred out to Government Medical College in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district on administrative grounds. Dr Reddy headed the department where Dr Dharavath Preethi, who died by suicide recently, was a first-year MD student.

Dr Preethi was found lying unconscious in the staff room of MGM hospital in Warangal on the morning of February 22 where she was on duty. She is believed to have injected herself with some drugs and with multi-organ failure she was admitted to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad where she died five days later while undergoing treatment.

Warangal police had arrested Dr M A Saif, a batch senior who allegedly subjected Dr Preethi to targeted harassment and deliberate insults driving her to take the extreme step.

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While Dr Saif was arrested, the bereaved family members of Dr Preethi raised suspicion of murder and sought an inquiry by a sitting judge of Telangana High Court. They demanded action against the HoD as well as the principal of the medical college.

The police maintained that there was no evidence to suggest negligence on part of the college management and pinned the charges of abetment to suicide on Dr Saif. A 14-member anti-ragging committee of the college convened and concluded the role of Dr Saif in Dr Preethi’s suicide. It agreed with the police findings that Dr Saif had deliberately targeted Dr Preethi and hosted a vindictive attitude towards her for two months.

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The committee members also noted the statements of Dr Nagarjuna Reddy as head of the department. On an oral complaint from Dr Preethi’s father, D Narender, who raised the issue of harassment meted out to his daughter, Dr Reddy had spoken to Dr Saif. He told the committee that Dr Preethi broke down and complained about harassment by Dr Saif following which he was issued a warning. The statements of fellow postgraduate students and faculty members of the department were also taken into consideration.

Dr Preethi joined the department in November 2022 and the committee found that he had posted snide remarks against her. According to Dr Saif’s statements to the police, he was only trying to discipline Dr Preethi. However, going by the history of chats between the two and their chats with other friends and batchmates, police concluded Dr Saif’s intention to single out Dr Preethi and motive to harass her.

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The KMC will send the report to the University Grants Commission (UGC) and Medical Council of India, New Delhi, for appropriate action. The National Medical Council (NMC) has already issued notices to the college, seeking a comprehensive report on the death.

Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, in her letter to the Vice-Chancellor of Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) recently, has sought a thorough probe into the death of Dr Preethi and a detailed report on the standard operating procedures in place to deal with incidents of harassment in the university.

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