CHENNAI: The Health Department has directed all hospitals with post-mortem examination facilities to submit detailed reports on the number of bodies received and autopsy carried out every day.
The direction came after DT Next carried a detailed report, which was later carried by several newspapers and television channels, on bodies waiting for autopsy for years piling up at mortuaries and viscera bottles awaiting to be dispatched to the forensic sciences laboratory.
As per the order issued by the depart, latest details of bodies should be send to the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) on a daily basis. Earlier, such reports contained only information about the total number of autopsies done, the number of cases registered and the number of cases freezed.
Now for the first time, the Health Department has asked for details of autopsies pending for more than 24 hours and 48 hours, number of reports not freezed, mortuary body storage capacity, number of cases required toxicology analysis, DNA identification and histopathology, etc., sources said.
If there are more than 10 post-mortem examinations pending or if the procedure is pending for more than 48 hours, the daily report should also alert senior officials with red flag notification, the instruction said, adding that red flag notification is also required if there are mass casualties, media sensitive cases, or law and order sensitive cases, besides cluster cases.