The State Government has sanctioned Rs.2 crore for the construction of a new mortuary with improved post-mortem facilities.
The Directorate of Medical Education, Chennai, has sent an official communication to the hospital authorities giving the go ahead for the project.
N. Mohan, Dean, GRH, told The Hindu on Wednesday that Rs.1.4 crore will be earmarked for constructing the building , while the remaining Rs.60 lakh is towards procuring equipment required for the post mortem facility.
“There will be modern freezer compartments with adequate provision to store cadavers,” he said.
Dr.Mohan has said that the new mortuary will have a separate gallery for medical college students to see the post mortem procedure being done by doctors.
It will have an ultramodern operation table and audio-visual gadgets to aid teachers.
Various cases
The GRH mortuary handles various cases pertaining to road traffic accidents, murders, suicides, poison and dead on arrival.
Unclaimed bodies will be kept in the mortuary till the police are able to establish the identity of the deceased person. “We handle medico- legal cases and bodies have to be preserved till the claims are settled. On an average, our mortuary performs 15 post mortem procedures per day. Protected environment, uninterrupted electricity and water supply are very important,” the official said. The post-mortem timings are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. “The public must understand that sometimes post-mortem gets delayed only for want of necessary documents from the police. There has to be time for inquest and preliminary investigation,” an official said.
More hospitals
The directorate sanctioned funds for the improvement of post-mortem facilities at Coimbatore Medical College Hospital in Coimbatore, Kilpauk Medical College, Government Stanley Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.
