Choked by unclaimed bodies, civil hospital morgue seeks help

TNNLudhiana: With a large number of unclaimed bodies kept in the civil hospital mortuary for days, some even dating back to last month — over half of the facility's storage capacity has been exhausted. Despite the civil hospital sending multiple reminders to police stations concerned, coordination between departments for the cremation of these bodies is still awaited.Hospital officials said the civil hospital's role is limited to storing, safeguarding and maintaining the bodies, while police act as the legal custodian of unidentified bodies. Police are responsible for identification within 72 hours by publicising photos, getting postmortem conducted if the bodies remain unclaimed, and then handing them over to the municipal corporation (MC) or authorised agencies for last rites.Sources in the hospital said out of around 22 to 23 bodies currently stored, around 18 are unclaimed. Many have been in the mortuary for periods ranging from nine to nearly 40 days. Of these unclaimed bodies, six are linked to cases registered under Moti Nagar police station, two under division no 1 police station, one each from Saleem Tabri and division no 2 police stations, and the rest are from other police jurisdictions.Sources said the mortuary has been gradually filling with unidentified bodies, with the oldest dating back to Feb 7. The morgue has a capacity of 35 bodies, but with more than 20 already stored, authorities fear that accommodating new bodies may soon become difficult.A doctor at the civil hospital, requesting anonymity, said most of the deceased died during treatment, while others were victims of road accidents or were bodies recovered from isolated areas. He said unclaimed bodies should ideally be disposed of or transferred after 10 days, and in a normal mortuary with temperatures maintained between 2 degrees Celsius and 6 degrees Celsius, decomposition becomes visible within three to seven days.Senior medical officer (SMO) Dr Akhil Sareen confirmed that the mortuary currently holds 18 unclaimed bodies in addition to four to five other bodies. He said the hospital has already written to the police and will hand over the unclaimed bodies to them.ACP Industrial Area (A) Inderjit Singh Boparai said he has instructed Moti Nagar police station to coordinate with the agency concerned for disposal of the bodies, adding that the process will be completed soon. Repeated attempts to contact the MC commissioner were unsuccessful as she did not respond to calls. MC sources, however, said arrangements for cremation can be made once requisite details are received from the police.