'Your Daughter is sick' to 'May have died by suicide': 3 audio clips from RG Kar Hospital to Medico's parents go viral

Kolkata: It was the morning of the heartbreaking day, the devastated parents received the news of their daughter's death—a PG trainee doctor in the chest medicine department at RG Kar Medical College Hospital—through three phone calls that have now gone viral igniting the emotion and rage of the public once again. It has sparked a fresh controversy over the "insensitivity" and "disinformation" of the institute's management in breaking bad news.

Three purported audio recordings of phone calls allegedly made by the assistant superintendent of RG Kar Medical College on August 9 morning emerged on social media yesterday. In these recordings, the assistant superintendent could be heard requesting the parents of the deceased doctor to come to the hospital immediately. 

The caller, a woman who identified herself as the assistant superintendent of the hospital, reportedly dialled the parents of the victim from the same number thrice within around 30 minutes asking for their urgent presence at the facility.

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First call

"I am calling from RG Kar Hospital. Can you come over immediately?" the caller could be heard telling the victim's father when he picked up his phone the first time around 10.53 that morning.

The father responded, "Why? What has happened?" To this, the caller replied, "Your daughter has fallen a little ill. We are admitting her to the hospital. Can you come down quickly?"

When the parent insisted on more details, the caller was heard saying, "Those details only doctors can provide. We only managed to find your number and call you. Please come down quickly. The patient has been admitted after falling ill. The rest, the doctors will brief you after you arrive."

The worried mother of the victim could be heard asking from the background, "Is she running a fever?"

"Come over quickly," was the caller's reply.

"Is her condition very serious?" the father's voice was heard asking. "Yes, she is very serious. Come quickly," was the response from the other end.

The call lasted for a minute and 11 seconds.

Second call

The second phone call, which lasted for about 46 seconds, arrived some five minutes later. It was perceptively from the same caller and she was heard saying, "Her condition is critical, very critical. Please come over as soon as you can."

To a desperate appeal from the father asking what happened to his daughter, the voice at the other end repeated, "Only doctors can say that. You please come over."

When the father asked her to reveal her identity, the caller said, "I am the assistant superintendent. I am not a doctor. We have brought your daughter to the emergency ward. You please come over and contact us."

"But what could have happened to her? She was on duty," a panic-stricken mother's voice could be heard in the background.

"You come over quickly, as soon as you can," was the reply.

Third call

The third and final call was the one that pronounced the death of the victim, albeit with a twist.

"Yes, please listen... we were repeatedly telling you before... your daughter... may have... died by suicide... or, she may have passed away. The police are here. All of us from the hospital are here. We are calling you to ask you to come down quickly," the apparently same voice from the first two calls announced in disjointed sentences.

The final call lasted for 28 seconds.

Medical Dialogues have not verified the authenticity of the three viral audio phone calls. 

As per PTI, the changes in statements on the status of the victim made by an official in those phone calls raise questions on whether the hospital was initially trying to cover up the ghastly crime.

The clear changes in the hospital's statement, from the victim "falling a little ill" to "very critical and admitted in emergency ward" to, finally, "may have died by suicide" have left the investigators to question whether "a carefully planned suicide plot was being hatched by the hospital authorities and police to cover up the crime", an official said.

"Especially since the caller admitted in her final call, while misleading the family on the cause of the victim's death, that she was speaking in the presence of police and hospital authorities," the official added.

It is relevant to mention that the first GD entry of the crime at Tallah PS which mentioned "unnatural death" was made much before the first call to the parents went from the hospital, the official said.

"How could the hospital management, fully aware of the gruesomeness of the crime, be so nonchalant and manipulative in breaking the news to the parents," a student protestor asked.

Medical Dialogues has been extensively reporting the matters related to the unfortunate death of the doctor at RG Kar Medical College Hospital since August 9 after her half-naked body was recovered from the seminar hall of the hospital. A preliminary autopsy report has indicated sexual abuse before she was killed.

As per the inquest report, there was bleeding from the doctor's eyes and mouth, injury on the face and nails, bleeding from her genitals, and several other injury marks on different parts of her body. The civic volunteer in connection with this case was arrested the next day on August 10 after police found a Bluetooth device at the scene and his presence on the CCTV. 

The exclusive footage of the accused, a civic volunteer captured in the hospital's CCTV offered critical evidence. According to the viral footage, the accused was seen entering the fourth floor of the hospital at 4.03 am on August 9 heading towards the seminar room where the female doctor was allegedly raped and murdered, as reported by Medical Dialogues a few days ago. 

Soon after the news of this horrific incident came to light, doctors across the country started a massive protest demanding justice. Although doctors from most of the state called off the strike after an appeal by the Supreme Court and assurances from the central government over their safety at all hospitals, resident doctors of RG Kar Hospital are still protesting for justice of the doctor.

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