HYDERABAD: A bench of the Telangana High Court on Wednesday expressed satisfaction with the explanation provided by the Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital regarding the functionality of cold storage boxes and disposed of a suo motu PIL.
Advocate General BS Prasad submitted a comprehensive report to the court which said that the hospital, in addition to being a tertiary care institution, also serves as a teaching facility. It caters to the medical needs of patients not only from Telangana but also from neighbouring states such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and more.
The report said that Gandhi Hospital handles an average of 15-20 medico-legal fatality cases per day. The bodies of the deceased in these cases are subject to postmortem examinations, which are typically completed on the same day. These identified bodies are promptly released to the relatives of the deceased following legal formalities. The Department of Forensic Medicine also conducts nighttime postmortem examinations.
Regarding the news report that led to the suo motu PIL, the AG stated that the figures mentioned in the article regarding the functionality of freezer boxes were inaccurate. The report incorrectly claimed that of the 60 cold storage boxes in the hospital’s mortuary, only 25 were operational. The hospital had acquired 16 freezer boxes during the Covid-19 pandemic, which were kept separately, the AG said.
A recent inspection of the 62 freezer boxes available in the mortuary revealed that 8 old ones had been replaced acquired during the pandemic which are kept separately and serve as standbys.At present, all 62 freezer boxes are fully operational, with 20 to 25 in active use, the court was informed.
After reviewing the detailed report submitted by the Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital, the bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice NV Sharvan Kumar, expressed its satisfaction and disposed of the PIL.