WARANGAL: In Warangal’s iconic Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital, families are allegedly being forced to put up with an excruciating wait for the bodies of their deceased loved ones.
With both Sunday and Monday (Ganesh Chaturthi) being holidays, it is most likely that a postmortem would not be happening in the hospital until Tuesday now.
In addition, a few doctors have decided to have a long weekend, choosing to skip duty on Saturday as well. The scenario has led to an unprecedented delay in the conduct of postmortems, and many shattered family members could be seen waiting outside the mortuary to claim the dead bodies.
Meanwhile, an investigation by Express has revealed that only four of the five cold storage units in the hospital are functioning.
Usually, two bodies are kept in each of these units. It is also learnt that the Telangana government is yet to respond to the hospital’s request for more cold storage units, despite this being such a long-standing issue.
According to a senior staff, who works in the forensic department of the hospital, there used to be seven doctors on mortuary duty earlier.
“Now, however, there are only two forensic doctors and two other staff working there. This significant shortage of staff and doctors has been leading to a delay in postmortem.”
However, he also pointed out that even the existing staff rarely showed any interest in working in the mortuary.
Speaking to Express, MGM Hospital superintendent Dr B Srinivas Rao said: “The postmortem services are monitored and managed by the authorities of Kakatiya Medical College (KMC). The mortuary is a part of the MGM Hospital, but we are not responsible for the forensic department.”
KMC principal Dr Sandhya Sunkaraneni, she was unavailable for comment.
‘MGM hospital neglected’
“The MGM Hospital is the only hope for many underprivileged persons in Warangal as well as its surrounding areas. But it is being neglected by the TRS govt,” alleged senior Congress leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.