Shillong, Feb 24: The Meghalaya government initiated an inquiry into the availability of medical staff at Mawiong Primary Health Centre following the death of Shillong MP Ricky Andrew J. Syngkon.
Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on February 23 said the health department was examining whether a doctor was present at the PHC when the 54-year-old parliamentarian was brought there after collapsing during a futsal match in Mawiong on the outskirts of Shillong. He told reporters that the inquiry was under way and that necessary steps would be taken based on its findings.
Syngkon, one of Meghalaya’s two Lok Sabha members, died on the evening of February 19, 2026, following a cardiac arrest. He reportedly collapsed while playing football and was first taken to Mawiong PHC before being shifted to a missionary hospital in Shillong, where doctors were unable to revive him.
A member of the Voice of the People Party, Syngkon had defeated senior Congress leader Vincent H. Pala in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, ending Pala’s three consecutive terms from the Shillong parliamentary constituency.
Before entering active politics, Syngkon served as an Assistant Professor of Economics at North-Eastern Hill University and resigned from his post to contest the 2024 general elections.
The state government was expected to take further action after the health department submitted its inquiry report.
