NILD student found unconscious in hostel room declared dead by hospital staff; students protest at West Bengal’s facility

A section of students locked the main gate of the institute, leaving staff and patients waiting outside.

A student of National Institute for Locomotor Disabilities (NILD) at Baranagar, near Kolkata, was found lying unconscious in his hostel room by batch mates and rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival, officials at the medical facility said on November 29.

Protests have broken out on the campus of the Central institute, where individuals are trained to become physiotherapists, orthotists and prosthetists, and orthopaedically challenged patients are given basic care, alleging that authorities failed to take prompt measures to arrange medical aid on November 28 for Priyaranjan Singh, "who could have been saved".

A section of students locked the main gate of the institute, leaving staff and patients waiting outside. Some of them were seen treating patients outside the institute gate. A police team has been deployed at the spot to avoid any untoward situation.

One of the police officers said a complaint has been lodged by the institute and circumstances that led to the student's death are being looked into.

The agitators claimed that authorities at the institute took no initiative to attend to Singh, despite help sought by other students, and "we had to make arrangements to take him to a nearby hospital on a motorcycle". He was declared dead on arrival by doctors at Sagar Dutta Hospital.

Spokesperson of the NILD, however, said that measures were also being taken by the institute to take Singh to a hospital in a vehicle. He also said that Singh had in the past complained of ragging against a senior, and "requisite action was taken against the accused".