Coimbatore Human Rights Forum (CHRF) has demanded the State Government to frame guidelines for burial or cremation of a dead person when the death happens at home or elsewhere naturally other than in a hospital.
The forum said that persons in charge at crematoriums demanded medical certificate of death by a registered practitioner to accept the body. However, according to CHRF, doctors are willing to issue the certificate unless the deceased was under their treatment at the time of death.
“Doctors refuse to give the medical certificate as they are afraid of landing in medico legal cases after the final rites. At the same time, people at crematorium demand medical certificate for the deceased. Though some doctors are willing to declare the death of the person, they omit the column where cause of death has to be mentioned. Considering these factors, CHRF has written to the government to set up guidelines for doctors and crematorium operators,” said V.P. Sarathy, chairperson of CHRF.
Mr. Sarathy said that relatives of the deceased were often made to run from pillar to post to get the medical certificate. “Middlemen playing in between various government offices and relatives of the deceased are making quick bucks. They play havoc in the absence of clear guidelines,” he said.
According to Mr. Sarathy, Indian Medical Association (IMA) had issued circular instructing doctors not to issue any such certificate for unknown patients to avoid medico legal cases.
A. K. Ravikumar, chairman of private hospitals board of IMA in Coimbatore said that the medical practitioners body had issued a State wide circular not to issue the certificate for unknown patients and also in cases when person dies outside hospital - Form IV (a).
“If the person died outside the hospital, a doctor can issue a medical certificate of death if the deceased had consulted him/her within 15 days of the date of death. If the person dies in a hospital, medical certificate of death must be given in form IV,” said Dr. Ravikumar who also welcomed the request for guidelines on the issue.
Dr. Ravikumar suggested a process through which relatives of the deceased can obtain death certificate in such situations. “Twenty people comprising the relatives and neighbours of the deceased can sign on a document ruling out any kind of suspicion in the death. The letter can be submitted to municipal bodies to get a death certificate after endorsed by a village officer or ward councillor,” he said.
