Nursing student commits suicide due to academic pressure in Patna

A nursing student of a state-run institute here allegedly committed suicide after failing in four of the six subjects in an examination, triggering protests by a section of her batch mates on Tuesday, officials said.

Police took into preventive custody some of the protesting students of the nursing college attached to the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), while the health department ordered an investigation into the incident. Khushbu Kumari (20), a first-year student of IGIMS College of Nursing, hanged herself on Monday after she failed in four of the six subjects in the internal assessment examination.

Soon after knowing about her results, Khushbu said she would commit suicide in front of some other students who went to the hostel warden and the nursing college principal and informed them about it, IGIMS Medical Superintendent cum spokesperson Dr Manish Mandal told PTI. After returning, they found Khushbu hanging from the ceiling fan, Mandal said.

"She was immediately rushed to the hospital where she died around 1:30 am (in the intervening night of Monday- Tuesday). The body has been sent to her home in Arwal district after completing the formalities of post-mortem," he said. "A handful of nursing students" demonstrated demanding action against the nursing college principal Anuja Daniel, Mandal said.

"The functioning of not a single department of the hospital was hampered due to the protest by a handful of nursing students except the OPD which was hampered for around 30 minutes," he said.

City Superintendent of Police (Central) D Amarkesh said, "An FIR is being filed on the basis of the magistrate's statement in this regard. Some of the nursing students have been taken into preventive custody. They will be released later." Meanwhile, Health Department Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar said a three-member committee has been set up to probe the incident.

"We have taken suo motu cognisance of the incident of a nursing student's suicide. The committee, which will be headed by joint secretary Kaushal Kishore, will submit its report within a week," Kumar told reporters here.

He said the panel would probe the circumstances in which the incident took place and also suggest measures to ensure that such an incident does not recur in future.

(With inputs from agencies.)