BHOPAL: At a time when the nation is embroiled in controversy over cattle trading and cow slaughter, a dead cow in a government hospital mortuary forced doctors to conduct the autopsy of a 14-year-old girl under the open sky in Madhya Pradesh’s Gadarwara town.
A day after doctors at the Gadarwara government hospital performed the autopsy on Arti Dubey under the open sky, chief medical health officer (CMHO) of Narsinghpur, Dr RP Faujdar, conducted an on the spot probe on Tuesday.
“I went to the hospital and found that the girl’s autopsy was done in the open owing to the stench emanating from the cow’s carcass. The cow sneaked in to the mortuary owing to the latch less doors. It is surely a case of negligence, particularly how the doctors there failed to put a latch on the door when lakhs of rupees are being sent to the hospital. I will submit a detailed report to the district collector,” Dr Faujdar told the New Indian Express over the phone.
He was shocked to find how the cow’s carcass wasn’t removed from the mortuary, despite being there for at least 3-4 days. “The doctors there, including the officiating in-charge block medical officer (BMO), told me that they had written to the municipal authorities to remove the carcass three days ago. Did their duty end with that alone?” said Dr Faujdar.
Arti Dubey was electrocuted after contacting a high tension wire line in Mahgavan village on Sunday evening. While local police registered the matter under Section 174 of the CrPc, the teenager’s body was brought for autopsy on Monday.
“With the girl’s family pressurising for a prompt autopsy and the intolerable stench of the cow carcass lying unattended inside the mortuary, we informed BMO, Dr KS Rajput. The BMO told us that he had spoken to the sub divisional magistrate (SDM), and the autopsy can be performed in the open, after which we conducted the autopsy outside the mortuary,” said Dr DP Kori.
However, when contacted by the New Indian Express, SDM Rajendra Rai said that neither was he informed about the matter, nor did he permit the doctors or BMO to do the autopsy in the open.