HYDERABAD: The Right to Information (RTI) Act is considered to be a powerful tool that empowers the public. But, police, who have their own ways and means of extracting information, too are forced to rely on this tool to know why a few forensic medicine doctors at the Osmania General Hospital do not give them post-mortem examination (PME) reports. Not getting the response even after several visits and phone calls, the vexed men in the khaki resort to filing RTI petitions.
The delay in submission of PME reports slows down police investigation was discussed at a meeting between chief secretary SK Joshi and DGP M Mahendra Reddy on Tuesday. It was learnt that more than 4,000 PME reports are pending submission.
Top officials are mulling over the feasibility of introducing an online system in coordination with the departments concerned. In Telangana, apart from Osmania General Hospital (OGH) and Gandhi Hospital, PMEs are performed at the district and area hospitals which come under the Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad.
According to sources, though thousands of PMEs are conducted, the corresponding number of reports are not being filed. “Some forensic medicine doctors file only one or two reports a day while others manage to complete 10 or more reports. Since there are no rules fixing a time limit for the conduct of autopsy and filing of reports, they take their own sweet time to file the reports, which is more than four months in some cases,” the sources said. In fact, the standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the director of medical education state that all medico-legal reports or certificates should be issued within seven working days of completion of examination except in certain circumstances when relevant documents such as crime scene visit recordings and case sheets are not provided.
But the SOP is more flouted than followed. Forensic medicine doctors, on condition of anonymity, said that unless a state medico-legal code is framed, the issue might not be addressed. “The code should have the maximum time that can be taken to complete the examinations and file reports. If that is in place, questions can be raised about the delay. Besides, disciplinary action such as issuing a memo should be introduced,” said a senior forensic medicine doctor.
Others said that the sufficient number of staff, technicians and clerks should be provided to cut down the delay. “According to rules, for every 500 PMEs after 1,000 autopsies, one extra professor should be appointed. Yet, a meagre number of doctors are conducting a mammoth number of 3, 000 to 5,000 post-mortem examinations at each of the major government hospitals. How can we complete all our duties without the adequate number of doctors and staff? We ourselves fill the death registers by doing the clerical work too,” commented another senior forensic doctor.
While admitting that there is the delay on their part, they said the personnel of some police stations would add to the delay by waiting to collect all reports once or twice a month. There is sometimes delay by them in depositing viscera samples with Forensic Science Laboratories (FSL) which delays filing of PME reports.
Apart from performing autopsies, the services of forensic doctors are sought also for estimation of age, potency, asked to give expert opinions on causes of deaths and to examine bodies after exhumation. These things also cause the delay in the issuance and submission of post-mortem examination reports.
4,000 PME reports are reportedly pending submission.In Telangana, apart from Osmania General Hospital and Gandhi Hospital, PMEs are performed at the district and area hospitals which come under the Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad.
‘Reports should be issued by 7 days’
The standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the director of medical education (DME) state that all medico-legal reports or certificates should be issued within seven working days of completion of the examination.