A student at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur (IIT-K) allegedly died of medical negligence on Sunday afternoon.

Accepting responsibility, the director of IIT-K, Damo-dar Acharya, later submitted his resignation to the Board of Governors of the institute.

Rohit Kumar, a student of third-year electrical engineering, was suffering from a headache since morning. He went to the B C Roy Hospital at the institute for a check-up and was given a few pills. On his way back to the Lala Lajpat Rai Hostel, of which he was a boarder, he fell from the rickshaw. When his friends took him to the hostel, they found him frothing at the mouth. He was again rushed to the hospital.

The doctors said Rohit was having an epilepsy attack and asked his friends to wait. In the meantime, Rohit’s condition deteriorated. The hospital authorities then sent him to Kolkata in an ambulance with two of his friends. On the way, his condition further deteriorated and he started vomiting blood. He was taken to the Midnapore General Hospital where he was declared “dead on arrival”.

At 1.30 pm, over 2,000 students gheraoed Director Damodar Acharya’s bungalow. The strike continued till 8 pm. They also ransacked the bungalow and the vehicles parked there. To pacify the students, Archarya had to sign a letter offering to resign.

B C Roy Hospital, which caters to entire IIT-K, has over 30 beds in four wards - two for students and two for employees. The hospital has seven doctors. “We were not aware of the lack of facilities at the hospital. It did not have a CT scan facility. Moreover, the authorities said there was no neurosurgeon in the hospital,” said a student.

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