GMC HoD loses post over student's complaint

Nagpur: Following complaint of mental harassment by a postgraduate student, head of the preventive and social medicine (PSM) department of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) Dr Arun Humne has been asked to step down from his post. An order to this effect was issued by dean Dr Abhimanyu Niswade on Monday.
Complaint against Dr Humne was registered with the college authorities a few days ago wherein an MD student had said he was being constantly bullied.The student had even said that he was under tremendous mental pressure and depression and described a few instances in the letter. An enquiry committee headed by professor and head of the pulmonary medicine department Dr SV Ghorpade was also formed. Head of dermatology department Dr RP Singh and Dr JK Deshmukh from gynaecology department were also on the committee.
“We had discussed the issue in the college council on Wednesday. Subsequently, all staffers and 15 students from PSM department were interviewed. Based on their replies, the decision to ask Dr Humne to step down as head of the department was taken,” said Dr Niswade. He added that all those interviewed agreed with the victim’s version and had their own allegations to add.
Monday will be Dr Humne’s last day as the head of the department. From Tuesday, he would be replaced by Dr Uday Narlawar. The complainant had said in the letter he was feeling suicidal due to behaviour of his teacher.
This had led to Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) taking up the matter as well, saying that the college authorities were taking too much time to act. They had also said that there had been several complaints against Dr Humne, who was dealing with interns and externs as the head of PSM department. Citing a case from Solapur, where a resident doctor had committed suicide due to the extreme pressure he was being put through, MARD had asked college authorities not to take the matter lightly.