Two lives buckled under pressure and wilted. The doctors-to-be, who were expected to relieve the pain and suffering of the masses, gave themselves up in the face of adversity. Whatever be the reason, their morale caved in, mental strength failed and they finally succumbed.
The Sri Venkateswara Medical College (SVMC), Tirupati, was in the news last week for a wrong reason — the death of two medical students in quick succession. The death of B. Shilpa (28) on August 7 at her Piler residence brought the activities in the college to a screeching halt. Five days later, Geethika (19), a second year student, committed suicide at her Tirupati residence, citing personal reasons. Though the two incidents do not make a pattern, they did raise eyebrows on the falling tolerance levels among students and the growing tendency to crumble when faced with a negative situation. Medical education is indeed a tightly-packed academic curriculum that seldom gives breathing space to students to unwind and take up extracurricular activities, leave alone pursue their passion for fine arts.
Study of the cases
A careful study of the first case explains the trauma that Dr. Shilpa, a post-graduate student of paediatrics, might have undergone for nearly 18 months at the educational institution, which was also her workplace. Citing verbal harassment by departmental head Dr. P. Ravi Kumar, she had orally complained to the then in-charge Principal N.V. Ramanaiah, who attempted reconciliation by bringing the two parties to the negotiating table and conducted counselling. The issue flared up again when she mailed a complaint to the Governor, adding the names of two more professors, A. Kireeti and B. Sasikumar Reddy, to the list, which was passed on to the principal through the NTRUHS Vice-Chancellor. The internal probe initiated by the Principal with three women professors held that the charge against the accused could not be proved beyond doubt. District Collector P.S. Pradyumna, on his part, constituted a panel with the RDO and conducted an external inquiry. The last attempt for rapprochement by involving the Andhra Pradesh Government Doctors Association (APGDA) also could not clear the stalemate. With no end in sight to her ordeal in spite of action at various levels, she had apparently undergone depression and developed a sense of disenchantment. As a result, she failed to clear the final year PG medical examination by eight marks in the theory papers. Two days later, she was found hanging to the ceiling in Piler.
Not much emerged in the case of Geethika, as it was attributed to ‘personal reasons’ right from the moment the news of her suicide broke. Daughter of Late Vijayabhaskar Reddy of Kadapa district, she was living with her mother Haritha Devi at an apartment in the city for pursuing medical education. According to the preliminary reports, she had gone to her bedroom after lunch and had not responded to calls by her mother, only to be found hanging to the ceiling. When shifted to the SVRR Government General Hospital, she was declared brought dead.
The common thread passing through the two cases having disparate backgrounds is the way the students chose the extreme step by yielding to pressure. A semblance of normalcy was restored after the government announced formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the CID. The team has already started gathering evidence and collecting statements from the faculty members, junior doctors, students and relatives of the victim.
Tackling pressure
It has been proved yet again that academic pressure is having a direct bearing on students’ lives. The SVMC management has come up with a three-point action plan to address the situation. The first one is introducing the concept of mentorship, where a professor will be entrusted with the responsibility of the well-being of a group of students. The professors will be trained in the finer aspects so that they can mould the students into personalities with strong physical and mental character. The mentor-mentee concept is very much in vogue abroad and the SVMC is expected to take a firm step forward sooner than later. Secondly, a “Student wellness and personality development” programme will be introduced in the form of an interactive session to identify the “at risk” students. “Going by the anxiety levels, such students will be identified, counselled and their wellness levels monitored at regular intervals. It is an opaque strategy, where their details will be kept confidential,” says G. Ravi Prabhu, new in-charge Principal of the SVMC.
The third is to conduct student-related events at regular intervals. While youth conventions, sports meets and cultural festivals are conducted elsewhere, the medical students, faced as they are with a tight academic schedule, do not have such a privilege. It is for this reason that they become couch potatoes and also move away from societal interaction. The worst-hit among them tend to become morose, cheerless or at times pessimistic, frustrated or stay depressed for no reason.
In fact, psychological disorders are high among medicos/doctors, which is often reflected in the form of moody behaviour, hyper cleanliness or superiority/inferiority complex. Most students who are genuinely interested in pursuing medical education will not find it stressful. Stress can be due to their inability to cope with the studies, which is further attributed to the failure of the parents to understand their wards’ aspirations. “Most doctors want their child to become a doctor, irrespective of what the latter wants to become. Students choosing a career path under duress most likely end up feeling stressed,” says clinical psychologist I.S. Sravanthi. She suggests introduction of fine arts, club activities and college-organised field trips into the community as stress-busters. Students facing depression or suicidal tendency can contact her at 96185 03480.
Immediately after the two incidents, another engineering student committed suicide in Madanapalle. “This is believed to be ‘Copycat syndrome’, perceiving it to be the lasting solution to a problem faced by him/her,” Mr. Pradyumna told The Hindu . It was in this backdrop that a counselling session was conducted for the SVMC students immediately after Shilpa's death to prevent recurrence.
Though academicians, bureaucrats, politicians and psychologists attribute various reasons for suicides, the single point of convergence of their thoughts is this: The lid needs to be blown off occasionally to let out the steam.
