Nurse found dead in washroom at Kolkata hospital, overdose angle under probe

A nurse on night duty was found dead in a washroom at NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Police and the Health Department have opened separate probes as postmortem findings are awaited.

In Short

• No visible injuries; medicine vials found near body
• Police and health department launched separate investigations
• Inquiry ongoing to determine cause of death, no conclusions yet

A 30-year-old nurse was found dead in a washroom at the state-run NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, hours after she reported for night duty, police said. The police have launched an investigation into the death, while the state health department has formed an eight-member internal committee to conduct a separate inquiry.

The nurse joined duty at the hospital's high-dependency unit around 8 pm on Wednesday. At about 10.30 pm, she went to the staff washroom in the antenatal ward of the Gynaecology Department building.

A police officer said her colleagues went to check on her when she did not return for some time. They found the washroom door locked and broke it open after repeated knocks drew no response. The nurse was lying unconscious on the floor. A doctor was called and declared her dead.

Personnel from Entally police station and officers from the Detective Department's Homicide team reached the hospital after being informed. The preliminary investigation found no visible injury marks on the body, and police did not recover any suicide note.

Police found several medicine vials near the body and are examining whether the nurse had taken them to the washroom while on duty. Investigators suspect that she may have died following an overdose of an anaesthetic drug administered through an injection, although police said they were investigating all possible angles.

The nurse was known to colleagues and patients for her cheerful nature. Detectives questioned her colleagues, patients and family members to understand her behaviour and state of mind in the days before her death. They are also checking whether she had faced any mental stress or depression.

Police are piecing together the sequence of events after she arrived at the hospital on Wednesday night, including her movements before she entered the washroom and the circumstances in which the medicine vials were found nearby. She had been married for about a year.

Health Minister Dr Sharadwat Mukherjee visited the hospital on Thursday morning and spoke to staff members who had been on duty with the nurse the previous night. After speaking to her husband and brother, the minister said she was known as a happy and friendly person.

Mukherjee said it would be premature to conclude whether the death was a suicide or resulted from any other circumstance. He said the cause of death would become clear only after the postmortem report.

The nurse's husband objected to conducting the postmortem at NRS Medical College and Hospital and requested that it be carried out at another facility. The authorities accepted the request and sent the body to Kolkata Medical College, where the postmortem will be conducted under the supervision of the head of its forensic medicine department.

The health department has also formed an internal committee to investigate the death. The eight-member committee is headed by the chief of the hospital's forensic medicine department and includes the medical superintendent-cum-vice principal, the nursing superintendent, officials from the cleaning department and heads of other concerned departments.

The committee began its inquiry on Friday and interviewed several employees. Authorities have asked it to submit its findings to the state health education department within seven days.

Mukherjee said there was no place for speculation in science and that the cause of death would be known only after the report. He also expressed condolences, saying the Health Department was like a family and that the department was deeply saddened by the death.

The police investigation and the health department's internal inquiry are continuing.

- Ends