Mumbai doctor's suicide: Dr Payal Tadvi refused help, fearing more bullying by seniors

Fearing further stigmatisation, Dr Payal Tadvi refused to seek psychiatric help to ease the anxiety and sleeplessness she was suffering from after being allegedly harassed by her seniors, a second-year student who resided on the same hostel floor as her has revealed. The student said Dr Tadvi was scared of being tagged as a 'psychiatric patient' by the seniors and thought they might use the tag to cite her as unfit for the course.

The second-year student said, "She was extremely anxious and also had trouble sleeping. The workload and the harassment had taken a toll on her mental health. We had advised her to consult with the hospital's department of psychiatry. But she was scared of being tagged as someone with a mental disorder by seniors."

'Had she taken help...'
mid-day has previously reported about how the seniors were not letting her participate in any deliveries and shouting at her in front of patients and juniors for no fault of hers. Because of this, the student said, Dr Payal was scared that if the three accused, Hema Ahuja, Ankita Khandelwal, and Bhakti Mehare, got to know that she sought counselling, they would have taken the opportunity to prove that she was unfit to pursue an MD in gynaecology.

Dr Payal Tadvi

"Seeking psychiatric help is still stigmatised, even among medical students. So, she couldn't approach the in-house psychiatric help and she didn't have time to seek help in private. Had she taken help from the psychiatric department, she would have survived," said another batch mate from her department.

Also read: Mumbai doctor's suicide: Yet to find caste angle in Dr Payal Tadvi's case, say police

PG students' anxiety
Dr Tadvi was not alone in feeling that way. According to a study, this is the case with almost all medical students across the state. The study titled, 'Stress Among Doctors Doing Residency: A Cross-Sectional Study At A Tertiary Care Hospital In The City Of Mumbai', published in 2015 in the National Journal of Community Medicine had suggested counselling and social support could help improve the physical and mental well-being of the post-graduation doctors.

The report also stated anxiety is the highest among post-graduation students in their first year. While the stress level for first year students was at 46.2 per cent, it was 29.2 per cent for second year students and 36.2 per cent for third year students. The average stress level among all 273 respondents was 37.3 per cent. Dr S R Suryawanshi, head of the department of community medicine, was also a part of this study.

A 2007 study conducted on medical students at Nair hospital revealed that 51.37 per cent of the surveyed students suffered from stress, while 66.05 per cent had been diagnosed with anxiety and 39.44 per cent had depression. This study was published in The Indian Journal of Occupational Therapy.

Also read: Mumbai doctor's suicide: How were three accused first to find Dr Payal Tadvi's body, ask cops

Seeking help outside
Several medical students who suffer from anxiety and depression refuse to take psychiatric help fearing stigmatisation. They prefer private psychiatric clinics. Dr Sagar Mundada, a city-based psychiatrist concurred, "It's true that medical students also stigmatize psychiatric counselling even though they need it on a regular basis. There is always pressure on medical students, which often makes them vulnerable to depression, anxiety and stress." "But they are too scared to seek counselling inside the hospital. So, either they don't approach doctors or even if they do, they go outside, to private clinics. On a monthly basis, I get around 10-15 medical students seeking counselling due to stress," he added.

BMC to strengthen anti-ragging committee
After corporators slammed the BMC in the Dr Payal Tadvi case for failing to strengthen the anti-ragging committee in civic medical colleges, civic chief Praveen Pardeshi said during a general body meeting on Friday that they have taken strict cognizance of the matter and suspended the people concerned. He also said the anti-ragging committee will be strengthened and necessary steps will be taken to ensure such incidents do not take place. Meanwhile, Rais Shaikh, the Samajwadi Party group leader in BMC, said there is an urgent need to bring reforms in the current working pattern of doctors in the civic hospitals. He'd also written to the commissioner earlier this week regarding the issue.

Also read: Mumbai doctor's suicide: Dr Payal Tadvi thought of suicide in November

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