CUTTACK: Bodies of destitute and unidentified patients are being left unattended for several hours at the wards of Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute of Cancer (AHPGIC) here due to lack of a morgue house.There is also no special room for temporary preservation of dead bodies at the hospital which can facilitate its authorities to go for immediate shifting of the bodies of the destitute patients from the wards.
Under these circumstances, staff are being compelled to take the help of volunteers of some social organisations in shifting the bodies to the morgue of SCB Medical College and Hospital.
In the recent past, unclaimed body of an old destitute cancer patient was found lying inside the ward for a day till the volunteers interfered and shifted it to SCB mortuary. Few days back, body of a divorced woman of Kendrapara, who was undergoing treatment at AHPGIC, continued to lie on bed for more than 18 hours after her relatives left the hospital abandoning her body.
The sight of unclaimed bodies lying unattended for hours at the wards has been affecting the morale of patients and their attendants at the cancer hospital. It is also causing inconvenience for nearby patients and the people visiting the premier cancer healthcare facility of the State every day.
Though the problem has been persisting for years, the gross inaction of the hospital authorities towards setting up a mortuary has caused widespread discontentment among the patients and attendants.
Director of AHPGIC Lalatendu Sarangi said a mortuary could not be set up due to acute space crunch on the hospital premises. However, steps are being taken for alternative arrangements, he added.