Open post-mortem house poses health hazard at Jharsuguda

Mismanagement at the post-mortem centre of the Jharsuguda District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) has made life miserable for the people residing around the hospital.

Since the doors and windows of the post mortem centre on the backside of the DHH are not closed, bodies inside it emit foul smell posing serious health hazard.

The bodies are in decomposed state and are kept in the open for days together as the centre does not have any facility for safe disposal or preservation of the bodies.

Moreover, after post mortem, the hospital staff dispose of  the unclaimed bodies outside the centre in the open space on the hospital premises.

Besides the stench, the exposure to decomposing bodies is posing health problems to the people, especially children. Tanushri Ghosh, one of the residents of Bengalipara, claimed that for last one year the residents

have made numerous complaints to the CDMO and the ADMO of the DHH but to no avail.

Last week, a group of villagers met the manager of the hospital Vijay Mohanto but the issue could not be resolved.

On  Monday, the police had brought one decomposed body for post mortem from Khadam village forest under Lakhanpur police limits.

As the body could not be identified, it is still lying in the post mortem house raising unbearable stench, rued the villagers.

CDMO Damayanti Sahu said, “After the post mortem, it is the responsibility of the police to take possession of the body. I had spoken to the SP in this regard on Wednesday but the body is still lying at the centre. However, we would soon construct a boundary wall for protection of the bodies as well as health concern of the people living close by.”