Every day, work for R. Mayakrishnan, one of the three mortuary attenders at the Government General Hospital here, starts with a briefing from the police on the number of bodies that had come overnight for post-mortem. He, along with his colleague Mani Elango, offers a silent prayer before they begin their work, which involves aiding doctors in performing the autopsy and dress the body before the relatives collect it.
“I found the job nauseating when I began 17 years ago. But now, I have become numb to this stench,” says Mayakrishnan, wearing an outfit that is usually reserved for surgeons in an operation theatre.
Being a mortuary attender is perhaps the most thankless job in the hospital. From bodies that were crushed in accidents just hours ago, to those which had undergone decomposition for days, these men collect, tag, and take the bodies inside for the doctors to examine. But it is the job of returning these bodies to the kin of the deceased that these men find most difficult. “Often, we come across family members in grief who weep outside the morgue. When we give them the body, we face the brunt of curses that is quite hard to endure,” says Elango.
Though provided with masks and body covers, these men say that the stench of the corpses sticks to their bodies the whole day. This was quite unbearable for them in the initial days, but they quickly realised that it was something they could not escape.
“I used to take alcohol after the day's work because eating with the smell was impossible. But I slowly realised that I had to get used to this. So I started doing this without drinking,” recalls Elango.
While they have a hard time handling at least 8 to 10 bodies every day, they say that ill-treatment by family members, who regard them as “untouchables,” hurt them the most. “I have seen people moving away from me at gatherings. In such times, I feel angry about myself and feel like throwing away this job. But I have to sustain my wife and kids, so I continue to do this,” says Mayakrishnan.
Continuous exposure to decomposing bodies also means that they are exposed to germs. Often, these men say that they fall sick with throat infections and fever. However, they deplore the fact that the government has not arranged regular health check-ups for them.
“Rather than falling sick and then taking medicines, we want to stay healthy and prevent diseases. But they have never done a health check-up for us all these years,” say these attenders.
Apart from health monitoring, these men also want the government to officially declare them as “mortuary attenders” so that they get higher salaries.
“At the moment, we are listed as ordinary ward attenders. For a long time, we have been asking for the re-classification so that we are paid what we deserve,” says Mayakrishnan.
