Nurse in Delhi locks herself in hospital bathroom, attempts suicide

Jeena Joseph

A patient care executive working at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) allegedly attempted suicide on Friday by locking herself inside the OPD bathroom and slitting her wrists. Jeena Joseph, 33, said she took the step after alleged harassment over a period of two years by hospital authorities for her ‘active participation in the employee welfare association’.

Police said Joseph attempted suicide as her “service was dispensed with on administrative grounds”. They said her injuries were ‘simple in nature’. “She was challenging the hospital administration’s order and attempted suicide. As per doctors, she is stable and has been shifted to AIIMS Trauma Centre,” Additional DCP (south) Chinmoy Biswal said.

Joseph alleged she was arbitrarily terminated from her job and that she pleaded with the hospital director in this regard. When negotiations reached a dead end, she slit her wrists with a blade.

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Speaking to The Sunday Express over phone, Joseph claimed she met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal two years ago, and he asked her to form a committee to look after the interests of over 400 hospital staffers.

“I was a constant irritant in the management’s lives. The most senior manager used to fire staff arbitrarily and we would fight against such decisions. I, along with other members of the committee, had met Kejriwal when he visited our hospital on April 23, 2015. He asked me about issues faced by the hospital staff, and I gave him a list of our problems. He asked me to stay in touch and form a committee for our own benefit,” she claimed.

Vipin Mathew, a member of the committee, alleged Joseph was harassed by hospital authorities over her enthusiastic participation, and her services were terminated on September 28.

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“She had come for duty on that day. The next day she took a medical leave and she received an email saying she was terminated from her services from the 28th,” Mathew said.

Joseph claimed she got an email at 11.56 pm on September 29. The committee staged a protest and asked the director to revoke the termination. “I begged him to give me my job back. No patient has ever complained against me in the past five years; I have been one of their best performers,” she claimed.

When negotiations failed, she handed her three-year-old daughter to the committee members and told them she was exhausted. She locked herself in the OPD washroom and slit her left wrist before losing consciousness. “We found her missing while we were holding discussions. We broke open the door and found her bleeding. We took her to the emergency ward and later shifted her to AIIMS. She is stable now,” Mathew said.