RG Kar victim's parents to set up hospital in her memory
Semi-Charitable Hospital in Krishnanagar
Krishnanagar: In a move turning personal grief into public service, the parents of the junior doctor who was brutally raped and killed inside RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024 have announced plans to set up a non-profit, semi-charitable hospital in Krishnanagar, West Bengal.
Medical Dialogues had previously reported that in the aftermath of the tragic rape and murder of a female PG trainee doctor at Kolkata's R G Kar Medical College Hospital four months ago, the West Bengal Doctors' Forum (WBDF) has launched the Abhaya Scholarship program to honour the victim’s memory and support the future of healthcare professionals.
Also Read:West Bengal Doctors' Forum launches Abhaya Scholarship to Honour Victim's Legacy
The initiative, driven by the deceased's parents from Sodepur in North 24-Parganas and supported by friends and well-wishers who stood by them after the tragedy, is being formalised through a trust formed on Saturday. The trust has already identified potential sites in Krishnanagar for the proposed hospital.
In a gesture that deeply moved the family, Asit Saha, a businessman and independent councillor of the Krishnanagar municipality, came forward to donate a plot of land along with a partially constructed structure located beside NH12 in the Mayanagar–Bahadurpur area on the outskirts of the town. “It is more than a pleasure for me to dedicate this land to Abhaya, who was like my daughter. We would all like to live forever with Abhaya in this hospital,” Saha said, reports the Telegraph India.
Overwhelmed by the offer, her father described the initiative as both a symbol of resistance and a source of strength for the family. He said that it was a dream, intended to be set up as a landmark of protest and a means of seeking justice for his daughter and many others like her. At the same time, he noted, it had become a reason for the family’s survival, and he expressed gratitude to Asit Babu and other friends in Krishnanagar who had come forward selflessly and invited them to participate.
Reflecting on the broader significance of the effort, he added that a fresh movement had begun with the support of friends to help people in medical need who find it difficult to afford treatment due to financial limitations.
The couple plans to invest their life’s savings into the hospital while also seeking support from well-wishers who had previously extended solidarity after their daughter’s death.
Speaking to Telegraph India, her father said, “During the movement after the murder of my daughter, many organisations and individuals offered us money apart from government compensation, but we did not accept any such financial help. Now, if required, we will request them to contribute to this hospital as a mark of their love and tribute to my daughter.”
The trust, named after Abhaya, intends to initially set up a multi-speciality hospital with outpatient facilities and limited inpatient services. Senior journalist and family friend Swapan Bhowmik, who first suggested the idea, said that the prime objective of the hospital was to serve financially backward people by providing good medical treatment at a very low cost.
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