KOCHI: The state's commercial capital of Kochi is witnessing a dubious rise in the number of mysterious deaths with Ernakulam General Hospital receiving as many as 267 unidentified bodies obtained from various parts of the city alone in a span of four years. However, it helped the hospital generate a revenue of Rs 62,40,000 by supplying the cadavers to medical colleges during the period.
The bodies of destitute are given to the colleges in most of the cases where no one comes to claim them. The data on unidentified bodies at General Hospital was received in response to an RTI filed by activist Raju Vazhakkala for the period, from August 2017 to November 2021.
Of these 156, bodies were given as cadavers to medical colleges for study - 154 to private medical colleges and two to government colleges. For each cadaver, General Hospital charges Rs 40,000. The hospital received Rs 62,40,000 for supplying cadavers to medical colleges. The amount thus received is used for running the mortuary and forensic department attached to the hospital. Currently, Rs 57,43,002 remains in the hospital’s account.
“The sad part is that in spite of a number of old age homes and welfare activities for destitute operating in Kochi, many are dying on streets. Several bodies are recovered from waterbodies. On an average Ernakulam General Hospital gets 60 unidentified bodies every year. No postmortem is conducted on unidentified bodies,” Raju said.
Similarly, from 2011 to 2017 ,395 corpses were kept at the General Hospital. Then the hospital received Rs 1.49 crore from the sale of cadavers. According to the officials at the mortuary section, the bodies are preserved for a few days. After ensuring that no one would come to stake claim, the body is given to medical colleges.
Non-embalmed bodies are provided to the colleges for Rs 20,000 and skeleton for Rs 10,000. "Autopsy is performed only in suspicious cases. In some cases, we manage to recover details from the articles found on the body - letters, debit/credit cards or other identity proofs. Later, the identity is confirmed with the help of DNA. There is fairly good demand for cadavers from private medical colleges," an official said.
However, for a DNA test, the information of parents or relatives is required. In most cases, there would be no information regarding the relatives. “Before the disposal of bodies, fingerprint imprint and viscera of the deceased person is collected. The records are maintained at District Crime Records Bureau. There are instances when the relatives of the deceased persons are traced after several months,” a police officer said.
Number of unidentified dead bodies received: 267
Number of cadavers given to medical colleges: 156
Amount from sale of cadavers: Rs 62,40,000
Price of an embalmed unidentified dead body: Rs 40,000
Price of a non-embalmed unidentified dead body: Rs 20,000
Price of skeleton: Rs 10,000