A 50-year-old doctor, believed to be a schizophrenic patient, has allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the terrace of 10th floor apartment amid some high drama and desperate attempts done by the private security guards of the building complex to save her life.

The incident had taken place on Tuesday at around 11.30 am at an upscale condominium that is located at Bosepukur Road off the Kasba Connector in Kolkata.

The victim was identified as Joyita Ghosh who was living alone in the flat for the last six years after her husband and 19-year-old son settled down in Malaysia. Her son is studying in Australia now. According to the police the victim had given up her practice many years ago and became completely dependent on her former tenant and her neighbours. Whenever she sought medical help or hospitalization, she called the local police station.

DC (SSD) Rashid Munir Khan said that the victim was showing some behavioural peculiarities lately, which has alarmed the other residents. On Tuesday morning, at around 11.15 a.m., she had managed to climb the parapet on the terrace of the building from her third-floor flat. A resident saw her and started shouting to attract her attention. This alerted the two apartment security personnel who immediately reached the terrace to get her down. By the time they reached her, she had already jumped off the terrace. She fell on her back on the open parking space on the western side of the apartment. She was then rushed immediately to the CNMC Hospital in a trauma care ambulance after informing the Kasba police station. However, was declared dead.

As per the primary police enquiry, Ghosh was a patient of schizophrenia and was under depression for many years. She also suffered from gastric ulcer and other prolonged illness and was hospitalized several times. The police are still trying to learn the reason behind the victim having given up her medical practice and whether any specific reason as she became suicidal in nature of late.

The local police station had previously made arrangements for admitting her at different hospitals for treatment. An investigating officer said that Ghosh, herself was a doctor but rarely used to cooperate with the doctors who treated her. She would frequently intervene in her treatment procedures raising a ruckus if her opinions were not listened to.

Arindam Biswas, an internal medicine specialist in a private hospital off EM Bypass and who stays a few floors above her said that neighbours tried helping Ghosh since 2012 but in vain. She had suffered a lot and would ring the doorbell at odd hours for seeking food and occasionally money from them. During the lockdown, she had broken several strict rules that were put in place but they compromised knowing her mental condition. She kept changing maids that had irked a few residents and then they finally wrote to the Kasba police officer-in-charge that the victim needed help.

Not one organization came forward to help Ghosh. They even contacted her husband who refused to come and help her. About a week ago, her electricity was also cut off by the power supply company due to non-payment of fees and they kept knocking at her doors. His 76-year-old mother proposed that they should fix up her meals through an agency but she refused.

Source: ET Healthworld