The website makes it easier for the students to get an appointment or access outdoor schedules and to check the availability of doctors at any given time. The hospital website lists its team of doctors and hospital staff entrusted with the task of ensuring quality health care. The hospital presently contains separate departments and centres including an emergency unit, student wards, cabins, an isolation ward, pathology, radiology, eye department, dental department, physiotherapy unit, ultrasonography, echocardiography, a 24-hour in-house pharmacy, seminar room, and a tele-medicine unit.

Available for download on the website is the hospital’s Students Insurance Policy. Students can avail of this facility using their institute identity card and membership number provided by the insurance company.

The website is a succinct summary of all that the hospital offers, and more. The website also has an online forum where students can find out about the hospital’s infrastructure and post their queries and comments. This is an effective technique of keeping the campus updated with the latest news, and functions as an online survey to help the hospital improve its facilities.

The Director, Prof. D Acharya, appointed a new Professor-in-Charge for BC Roy Technology Hospital, Dr. Analava Mitra of SMST on 11th November 2009. Dr. Mitra, replacing Professor Gautam Sinha (VGSOM), has taken charge with immediate effect.

Source: http://noticeboard.iitkgp.ernet.in/estab/notice.php?sr_no=47

If you have questions to ask, issues to raise, or a story that concerns faulty medical care, comment on this post and we will ensure that your questions are answered.

The report further states that Dr. Som had made the correct diagnosis and had not wasted any time in treatment (in contrast to the general perception).

The turbulence and uncertainty surrounding the institute, after the sad demise of Rohit Kumar on 22^nd of march, have been finally put to rest with the enquiry commission giving a clean chit to our director, Dr. Acharya. The two member enquiry commission consisting of Dr.Bibhukalyani Das and Dr. Sitesh Gupta had submitted an extensive report to the director (acting) on the 2^nd of this month. The commission had launched an investigation into the incident and had visited the campus on the 8^th, 13^th and 29^th of April for the same. In these 3 days, the delegation made it a point to visit all the relevant places which included healthcare facilities present in close proximity to the campus. After talking to the concerned authorities, friends of the victim and the staff of B.C Roy hospital, the delegation has absolved the hospital management of any responsibility. Some noteworthy points presented by the committee in the report are as follows:

• The victim was suffering from an extreme form of epilepsy but the actual death was a result of a head injury due to the fall from a rickshaw (which in turn could have deteriorated the epileptic condition of the victim).
• The report emphatically mentions the fact that under the prevailing circumstances, the hospital had done whatever it could do.
• Dr. Som had made the correct diagnosis and had not wasted any time in treatment (in contrast to the general perception).
• Further, there is mention of an allegation made by Mr. Vidya Bhusan and Mr. Priya Ranjan Kumar (close friends of the victim) that the pharmacist was sitting by the side of the driver when the patient needed oxygen and suction from mouth due to bleeding but it also clearly states the pharmacist’s claim that the oxygen was on from the starting point and he himself had sucked the patient’s mouth. He had only requested the students to regulate the flow rate of oxygen.
• There is a dire need for hospital facilities to be upgraded and the responsibility of doing this rests completely on the students and staff of the institute.
• A slew of measures to enhance the basic resources and equipments present in B.C. Roy Technology Hospital have been recommended. The report also advises maintaining the contacts of a pool of medical specialists in the neighbouring areas (something which our paper has already done).
• An analysis on the feasibility of a super speciality hospital in Kharagpur was carried out. The report states that due to lack of population and affluence in neighbouring areas, corporate houses would be reluctant to set up healthcare centres here and hence have called upon the strong alumni network to assist the institute in this initiative.

In short, the report presented by the commission stopped short of implicating any specific person for the incident but accepted the need for massive overhaul of medical facilities. Along with measures to improve the current hospital, it also explored the possibility of a multi speciality hospital in future.

For detailed information, please see the original report available for download here.

1. Hon’ble Justice Moloy Kumar Bose, Former Judge, Kolkata High Court
2. Dr. Subir Chowdhury, Former Director, IIM Kolkata

to investigate the unfortunate incident at IIT Kharagpur on 22 March, 2009 following the death of a 3rd year Electrical Engineering student.

CONTACT:

PRITHVIRAJ SENSHARMA
9831234698
dc nick: ROVERANDOM
gmail: prithviraj.iit.

ARKOSNATO NEOGY
9422579434
dc nick: Elektron
gmail: a.s.neogy

ABHISHEK AGARWAL
9732930955
gmail: knight.abhi

Dr. V. R. Desai, Chairman, Students’ Brotherhood Fund Committee says, and we quote: (Originally posted as a comment here)

On behalf of Mr. Gaurav Tomar, an application for interest free loan (i.e., ‘loan of honour’) and/or donation from the Students’ Brotherhood Fund Committee (SBFC) for an amount of Rs. 3.8 lakhs was made by his hallmate Mr. Piyush Gautam (3rd yr. Dual Deg. in Electronics) on 30.3.2009, along with a letter signed by Sri Jaibir Singh -Gaurav’s father and all other necessary documents. In that application, the LLR Hall Warden -Prof. Pallab Banerjee and witness Prof. Sudhir Barai (Civil Engg.) recommended for donation instead of loan.

on 31.3.2009 I, Piyush Gautam and Sri R.K. Jha -our Medical Insurance Liason Officer met Actg. Director Prof. M. Chakraborty and made a plea for donation to Gaurav Tomar from the surplus money collected under student medical insurance. The next day, Prof. Chakraborty approved our request after a favourable comment by Registrar Dr. Gunasekaran for a donation amount of Rs. 3.5 lakhs from the surplus medical insurance money.

On 2nd April 2009, Registrar facilitated the transfer of the amount into Gaurav Tomar’s Bank Account. Thus we could retain the funds of SBFC as well as ensure donation for a ‘good cause’ as rightly termed by the Registrar.

In my capacity as SBFC Chairman, I sincerely thank our Actg. Director, Registrar, LLR Warden, Prof. Barai, Sri Jha, Mr. Piyush Gautam and all others who made this passible, for the first time in the IIT KGP history.

I personally wish Gourav Tomar a complete and speedy recovery.

Detailed reports on each of the points mentioned above in the update will be posted soon. Please keep visiting the site.

Prof G Sinha (L) & Prof S Bhattacharya (R)

Two new appointments have been made to fill in the voids in administration left after last week’s events.

Prof. Souvik Bhattacharya of the Department of Mechanical Engineering has taken up the post of Dean of Student Affairs, while Prof. Gautam Sinha has taken the position of Chairman of B C Roy Technology Hospital.

More updates to follow.

Dear Kanchan,

While I fully endorse your views that at the micro level, mismanagement is certainly a cause for the students current plight, at the macro level the responsibility squarely lies with politicians like Arjun Singh and his ilk, who have played caste based politics only for appeasing their vote banks and have almost exponentially inflated the number of IITs, as well as the number of students, with utter disregard to the infra structure and without a thought to maintain, if not upgrade, the declining facilities being provided to them. This has caused utter chaos and will almost certainly bring down the quality of students passing out from the IITs and thus negate the present standing of IIT graduates as world class engineers and technologists.

Having been closely associated with the IIT Alumni Association as well as the current faculty, I have full faith in our present faculty members like Prof Madhusudan Chakraborty, Acting director, Prof Amit Patra, Dean (Alumni Affairs), Prof. B. K. Mathur and their likes. However unless they are given a free hand and full budgetary support, how can we expect them to improve the facilities for the students?

Incidentally, even during our days during the 50′s student demonstrations at IIT KGP were not unheard of, but perhaps not known widely, because of the absence of so many rounds-the clock news channels. We remember demonstrating before the Director’s bungalow, wrapped only in towels, when taps ran dry while we were taking baths at our respective Halls of residence. However, there was certainly no violence or destructive action. The mild violence that has been reported in the media after the tragic death of Rohit is perhaps only a sign of the times, when students with political affiliations create havoc at campuses in Kolkata , with or without any valid cause, provoked by their political masters with the sole objective of coming to power and harvesting money. Compared to such incidents, the demonstrations by the students of IIT KGP, were not only mild, but certainly for a just cause. We are thankful that politicians have still not been able to infiltrate and pollute student activities at IIT KGP.

Let all IITians, past and present, unite to do whatever that is possible to overthrow politicians of the day practicing vote bank politics at the cost of meritocracy at Institutions of academic excellence like the IITs, IIMs and premier medical institutions like AIIMS. Improving living conditions of the students should be an important part of this programme. Donations to associations like Technology Foundation and similar bodies should be put on hold, unless they can show what they are doing to improve the living condition of students with the money they are receiving in abundance from the Alumni, both in India and abroad.

Yours sincerely,
Ranjan Khastgir
1957 B.Tech.(Mech), Azad Hall