The demise of a resident doctor of a private hospital in Delhi, who died by suicide, is nothing short of murder by the “system”, alleged a former chief of the Indian Medical Association on Saturday.

“... [This] has created frustration due to the shortage of basic healthcare facilities,” tweeted Dr Ravi Wankhedkar, who was the national president of the Indian Medical Association from 2018-’21. “Bad Science, Bad Politics & Bad Governance.”

The doctor, Vivek Rai, allegedly died by suicide on Friday at his residence in Malviya Nagar, the Hindustan Times reported, citing the police. Deputy Commissioner of Police of South Delhi Devender Arya said a suicide note was found, but in it Rai did not mention the reasons for ending his life.

In a series of tweets, Wankhedkar said that Rai was a resident doctor at the Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, in Delhi. He said that for the last month, Rai had been dealing with intensive care unit patients every day, providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, and advanced cardiac life support, or ACLS, to about seven to eight patients per day in which not many survived.

“Due to this frustrating situation he was into, he took such a difficult decision of ending his own life than living with the suffering and emotions of the people that died on his watch,” the former IMA chief claimed.

Wankhedkar said that Rai was a brilliant doctor from Gorakhpur and had helped many lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rai was married last year and her wife is two months into her pregnancy.

India is reeling under the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The country is not only reporting a high number of daily cases but also deaths. The healthcare infrastructure is under severe strain due to the surge in cases and the toll. On Saturday, India registered 4,01,993 coronavirus cases, pushing the overall count of infections to 1,91,64,969 since the pandemic first broke out in India in January 2020. This is the highest ever single-day rise in cases reported by any country so far. This is the first time any country has recorded more than 4 lakh daily cases.

With 3,523 deaths, the toll climbed to 2,11,853.

Also read:

In Delhi, glowering photographs of a mass cremation mark a night of grief