CHENNAI: The government medical college hospitals in the city are struggling to find space for preserving unclaimed bodies piling up in these institutions for months. According to officials, delay in police clearance to dispose of the bodies is the reason for this struggle.
On Monday, arrangements were made to shift some of these bodies from the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital to the Government Multi Super-Specialty Hospital (GMSSH), Omandurar Estate after the air-conditioner in the mortuary of the KMCH became almost dysfunctional.
According to officials, there are 60 unclaimed bodies in the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, 25 in Government Stanley Medical College Hospital and 24 in Kilpauk Medical College Hospital. “At the KMCH the bodies have been lying there for over a month,” said a senior doctor.
“The cold storage unit in the mortuary is not functioning properly for the last one week. So, we spoke to the police and have made arrangements to dispose of the unclaimed bodies. But we are diverting incoming bodies to GMSSH, Omandurar Estate from Monday,” said Dr P Vasanthamani, Dean, Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital. The senior doctor said, “There are 44 storage racks in the KMCH, and there are 24 unclaimed bodies. So, storage is becoming a big problem”.
Meanwhile, speaking to Express, Dr A Edwin Joe, Director of Medical Education, said, “The storage capacity in the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital is over 60. But there are 60 unclaimed bodies. There is an order that unclaimed bodies should be disposed of in three to 10 days. But, in many places the order is not being followed. It should be monitored strictly”.
A doctor in the forensic department of a medical college hospital said, “All these medico-legal case bodies would be stored without doing postmortem. Police claim three days’ time is not enough for them to complete their procedures. There should be some system that these bodies should be disposed of once in 10 days. There is still confusion over the days that the police can keep the body.”
‘Cops should dispose bodies’
A police officer, who has handled many such cases, said, “After police find an unclaimed body, they should register FIR and keep it in the mortuary. Then, they should publish notices in newspapers along with the person’s photograph and description. If it remains unclaimed, then they should conduct postmortem, and bury the body with the help of Corporation officials. But due to over workload, many police don’t follow it up.”