Hyderabad: Hospitals to conduct post-mortems even after sunset

Hyderabad: Following the new post-mortem norms that were released by the Union Ministry of Health, the Telangana State Health department announced the conduct of post-mortems even after sunset across government hospitals.

Director of Medical Education (DME), Dr K Ramesh Reddy had issued orders to principals and superintendents of teaching hospitals under DME to follow the new MOHFW protocols on conducting post-mortems. The new norm would be convenient for family members of the deceased and also promote organ donation. The donor organs can be harvested in the stipulated time window after the procedure.

Dr Ramesh Reddy said, the officials said that the government hospitals would assess the fitness and adequacy of infrastructure etc so that there is no dilution of evidentiary value. The principals and superintendents will make necessary arrangements for post-mortems after the sunset.

The hospitals will also ensure that video recording of the post-mortem shall be done for all post-mortems conducted at night to rule out any suspicion and preserved for future reference for legal purposes. "Post-mortem for organ donation should be taken up on priority and be conducted even after sunset at hospitals which have infrastructure for conducting such post-mortems on a regular basis," the DME said. However, cases under categories such as homicide, suicide, rape, decomposed bodies, suspected foul play should not be subjected for post-mortem during night times unless there is a law and order situation.