MUMBAI: A first-year resident doctor at Sion Hospital was found dead by suicide in his hostel bathroom on Saturday at around 7.30 pm. Hospital officials said he was a surgery resident and had earlier complained of a heavy workload.Dr Shivsharan Patil, a first-year junior resident, was a native of Karnataka. On Saturday, when he could not be located for several hours, his roommate was asked to look for him. “When he rang his phone, he heard it ringing inside the bathroom and alerted the senior authorities,” said a senior doctor from the hospital.Hospital authorities said that while there had been complaints regarding workload in the past, none had reached them over the last couple of months, as the workload in the deceased doctor’s unit had decreased.Dr Patil was found with an injectable medical device. Sion Hospital has not yet been informed by the police about the discovery of a suicide note. Meanwhile, the hospital has contacted his family, and his body will be handed over to them after the postmortem.While the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) rules state that no resident doctor may work beyond 48 hours a week, this is seldom followed in hospital settings.Past data from Nagpur Government Medical College showed that one trainee had logged more than 540 hours in a single month. At least 25 resident doctors have died by suicide over the last few years.
