Death of IIT Roorkee student throws light on administrative issues at institute

Anurag Sharma, a second-year student of IIT Roorkee, died on Sunday, January 16, 2016. Facts that came to light after his death have put IIT Roorkee in a spot.

Anurag suffered an injury under his left eye on January 9, 2016, while playing squash. He was taken to the Medical Unit (MU) inside the IITR campus. The medical officer who was present referred him for advanced care to the Himalayan Institute Hospital in Dehradun, which is around 50 kilometres away. But instead of going to the hospital, Anurag suggested that he should be referred to a doctor in Meerut, probably because his relatives live there. The MU consented to this suggestion, but failed to send along medical personnel with Anurag while travelling to Meerut. He was accompanied by two of his batchmates and the ambulance driver. None of these developments were conveyed by the MU, or Anurag, or his friends, to the Dean of Students Welfare (DoSW) or the IITR administration. As a matter of fact, Anurag and his friends went to an eye-specialist in Meerut directly, instead of going to the relative’s home. All these details were revealed much later, which were surprising to the DoSW.

Here’s what IIT Roorkee had to say when PaGaLGuY questioned them about this. “The students took a call without considering the intensity of the injury. It was a clear case of error in judgment, and it cost a brilliant student his life.” said Prof. D.K Naurial, Dean of Students Welfare (DoSW), IIT Roorkee.

 “The students took a call without considering the intensity of the injury. We were completely unaware of the fact that Anurag went to Meerut,” said Prof. Naurial,. The MU has now been instructed that all major decisions, like referring students to outside hospitals, should be immediately communicated to the institute. The MU maintains a register to record such incidents, but it was not checked regularly by the administration in the past.

This unfortunate incident has also revealed that the Medical Unit needs urgent attention with regards to its staff. “Despite constant advertising of vacant positions for full time resident doctors, these posts remain vacant. This is our priority at the moment,” added Prof. Naurial. For a campus with over 8000 students, the Medical Unit has a capacity of 50 beds but not enough full time medical personnel to address such emergency situations.

It cost Anurag his life to make the institute realise the importance of keeping a tab on the students’ medical issues. A weekly update has been demanded by the DoSW from the MU regarding the students’ health issues. While this communication system should already have been in place, the new instructions should help save more lives in the future.