After battling for her life for five days, first-year PG medical student Dr Preethi from Kakatiya Medical College Warangal was declared dead by doctors at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) Hyderabad on Sunday evening.
A bulletin released by the Medical Superintendent of NIMS said “despite continuous efforts by a multi-disciplinary team of specialist doctors, Dr Preethi could not be saved and was declared dead on February 26 at 9.10 p.m.”
Soon after the news of Preethi’s death, Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao announced an ex gratia of ₹ 10 lakh. Health Minister T Harish Rao expressed his condolences over Dr Preethi’s death. In a statement released on Sunday evening, he said, “We were hoping for Preethi to come back healthy but she went to the world of no return. The State government stands by her family.”
Meanwhile, mild tension prevailed at the hospital as slogans were being raised demanding justice for the deceased doctor. Since Sunday evening, various tribal organisations had gathered at the hospital in support of Dr Preethi. One such organisation was the Girijana Shakti who had certain demands from the government. Their demands included ₹ 5 crore ex gratia for the family of the deceased, a Group-1 job for a member of the family and suspension of KMC principal and superintendent.
The family members and friends of Dr Preethi staged a protest at NIMS Hospital demanding justice for her. There was heavy police deployment at the hospital as the family members refused to take the body of Preethi. Sources confirm that security has also been beefed up at KMC Warangal.
On February 22, Dr Preethi attempted suicide by injecting herself with a harmful substance after she was unable to bear the harassment of second year PG student Md Saif. In a press conference, AV Ranganath, Commissioner of Police, Warangal said that Saif had been targeting Preethi since November 2022.
