Mumbai: The statements of the Head of Department (HoD), Gynaecology of BYL Nair Hospital rule out any harassment or ragging meted out to junior doctor Dr Payal Tadvi, who committed suicide due to the alleged torture and casteist abuses hurled by her seniors.
In her statements to the Mumbai Police, the HoD has said that she had received complaints about Dr Tadvi being negligent towards patients.
The HoD, under whom Dr Tadvi, her classmate (name withheld) and also the accused doctors – Dr Hema Ahuja, Dr Bhakti Mehere and Dr Ankita Khandelwal worked, has ruled out ragging.
“I have not come across any instance wherein Dr Tadvi was harassed or tortured by the trio. I have also not witnessed any casteist abuses hurled against her by them. In fact, the trio was quite diligent in their work,” the HoD has told the police.
While referring to the complaint made by Dr Tadvi’s family, the HoD said, “On May 13, Dr Tadvi’s husband and mother had come to meet me. Her husband told me that his wife was being ill-treated by the trio. I asked him to spell out any specific instance of such ill-treatment. He did not say anything and left my cabin.”
“Soon after this complaint, I called all the doctors including Dr Tadvi, her classmate and the trio. I asked all of them to speak up about any ill-treatment being meted out by anyone to them. None came forward with any grievance,” the HoD said.
According to the HoD, Dr Tadvi did not come forward to make any complaint against the trio and instead it was Dr Hema Ahuja, the accused, who complained about the deceased and her classmate.
“Dr Hema complained that Dr Tadvi was negligent towards patients in the ward and filled wrong or false entries in the case papers. She pointed out some instances but Dr Tadvi did not utter any word against their claims and instead accepted her mistake,” the statements of the HoD, read.
“In fact, Dr Tadvi told me that due to too much work, she gets asleep in the night hours and thus fails to attend patients. I asked her and her classmate to ensure they do not repeat such negligence again,” the HoD claimed.
In her five-page statements, the HoD further claimed to have asked the trio bullies to refrain from pulling up their juniors. “I was informed by another senior doctor that the trio pulled up Dr Tadvi and other juniors over their work. I subsequently, asked the trio not to pull up any junior for work,” the HoD told the police.
