In the event of a controversial death, a post-mortem examination is carried out by a panel of more than one physician collectively with videography and under special order. This medical examination, which is recognized under the law, is an important part of medical and forensic science education. The post-mortem department and cold rooms are mostly in government hospitals affiliated with government medical colleges.
Dr. O.B. Belim, Administrative Nodal Officer, Sayaji Covid Department, informed that the cold room required for post mortem department and preservation of corpses of Government Sayaji Hospital, Vadodara, is the largest in Central Gujarat. He said that the department operated continuously and uninterruptedly throughout the year even when many medical and surgical activities were limited due to the risk of infection in the covid year of 2020.
Under the leadership of Dr. Sunil Bhatt of this department dedicated team of Dr. Vijay Singh Rathore, Dr. Pankaj Prajapati, Dr. Prateek Patel, and Jagdishbhai and his staff who have been working in this department for two decades, conducted about 1,500 post mortems from March- December and around 2,000 throughout the year including 500 medico-legal posts under special orders.
In case of covid positive death, a post-mortem was not done to avoid the risk of infection under multiple covid guidelines. However, subjected to special legal requirements and constraints, the team wore the PPE kit and took all precautions to complete postmortem on 7 to 8 Covid deaths informed Dr. Belim.
In case of emergency and death, brought by the police or relatives, in case of death brought by strangers, the body is always covid tested as per the latest instructions following the guideline of positive or negative and then formally handed over or coordinate with VMC and cremate or bury the bodies. The postmortem was also done in special circumstances.
Out of the total 36 cold rooms available in the post-mortem department in SSG, 6 cold rooms have been allotted separately for the COVID-19 positive body for vigilance.
A medico-legal post-mortem is mainly done as part of crime detection to obtain important and accurate evidence which is reported to being useful in finding accurate judgment based on findings in court cases and other disputes including inheritance. This department has done around 500 postmortems in 2020.
This is very useful in preparing an evidence-based certificate showing the cause of death in the event of a vehicle accident, strangulation or suicide, poisoning, burns, drowning, or electric shock. It is of great use in the education of bachelors and postgraduates of forensic science.
