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Chandigarh: Another PGIMER employee ends life on campus
29-year-old junior store keeper in PGIMER anaesthesia department hangs himself at campus residence; leaves suicide note
In the second suicide at PGIMER in as many days, a 29-year-old man, posted as junior store keeper in the hospital’s anaesthesia department, hanged himself at his residence on the campus on Wednesday.
Police recovered a suicide note, wherein the deceased wrote: “I have lost the will to live ”. As per sources he had also written four letters to his family.
The deceased, originally hailing from Joginder Nagar, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, was living alone in Phase 1 of PGIMER campus. He was brought up in Delhi, where his parents are settled. He also leaves behind a brother and two sisters, said police.
The suicide came to fore after worried colleagues showed up at his house to check on him after he did not answer phone calls.
After receiving no response to knocks on the door, they sought assistance from neighbours.
On forcing the door open, they were shocked to find their colleague’s body hanging from the ceiling fan, following which police were alerted.
Police responded to the scene and shifted him to Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, where doctors pronounced him dead. Later, the body was sent for post-mortem examination.
The deceased had been working for PGIMER since 2021, starting as a clerk in the establishment branch, before being promoted as junior storekeeper in December 2023.
His uncle said he received a call about his nephew around 11.45 am, following which he alerted his brother in Delhi and rushed to PGIMER. “We were completely unaware that he was experiencing such extreme stress,” he added.
The deceased’s brother said he had spoken to everyone in the family over the phone on Tuesday and appeared completely normal. They could have never imagined that he would take the extreme step the very next morning.
Police have launched an investigation, pending the autopsy report.
A PGIMER spokesperson in a statement said, “We deeply mourn the passing of our employee. He was found hanging in his residence at the PGIMER campus on March 13, 2024, and was rushed to the emergency, GMSH, Sector 16, where doctors declared him brought dead. He was a junior store keeper in the department of anaesthesia and intensive care at PGIMER from December 2023. Prior to this, he had been working as a lower division clerk at PGIMER.”
The two suicide cases in two days are not a first on the PGIMER campus. In July 2023, a senior resident doctor had attempted to kill himself on the PGIMER campus after penning a note blaming a faculty member in his department.
In 2018, a 24-year-old junior resident doctor ended his life by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his hostel room in the institute. In 2015, a 26-year-old clerk in the pathology department had died after he jumped from the fifth floor and in April 2010, a 25-year-old, who was being harassed by his seniors, died by suicide after he jumped from the fourth floor of his hostel building.
