Unclaimed bodies rotting in JJ hospital for 4 months
Swatee Kher & Jinal Shah
Mumbai, November1: Caught in paperwork, four unclaimed bodies lie wrapped in grey bed sheets on the floor of the mortuary at the JJ hospital in Byculla.
The severely decomposed bodies were returned by the Worli crematorium because of insufficient paperwork on Tuesday. And they are raising some stink on the premises that have residential areas for doctors and a pathology lab.
According to hospital officials, these four are among the 14 bodies of patients who died in the hospital but have not been claimed so far. According to sources, the bodies have been lying for over four months in the police mortuary on the hospital premises without any action on the part of JJ authorities.
JJ’s own mortuary has not been operational since 1987. The hospital has been using the police mortuary, which has 54 cold storage boxes, to keep the unclaimed bodies.
“The mortuary stinks. Though there is a caretaker, nobody really cleans the place,” said a ward boy at the mortuary.
According to the Worli crematorium officials, they returned the four bodies on Tuesday because no-objection certificates hadn’t been submitted.
‘‘Also, for clearance one has to have a medical certificate or a post-mortem certificate,” said an official from the crematorium, requesting anonymity.
JJ hospital authorities said that till recently the Hindu Relief Committee would handle the last rites of unclaimed bodies. But as several of their members have retired, the onus of disposing the bodies has fallen on the hospital.
‘‘We have to get the papers from the BMC and the police, which is taking time,’’ said Dr Arun Pol, JJ Hospital superintendent. ‘‘By tonight, seven bodies will be cremated, and the other seven will be done after we get the required papers. Normally, the police take 15 days to a month to give an NOC if they don’t find any claimant.’’
The Hindu Relief Committee trustee Jyoti Ghiya said they had not received any bodies from JJ for four to five months now. ‘‘They have not issued any order to let us take the bodies.’’
According to Pol, another organization—Tarun Mitra Mandal—has approached the hospital to take the bodies, but a decision is yet to be taken.
‘‘They should remove the bodies from time to time. If they don’t, other bodies will be affected as also the health of the staff,’’ said Dr S M Patil who is in charge of the police mortuary. ‘‘Their mortuary has been shut for a long time. We have been providing them with space to keep the bodies. Yesterday, we had a meeting. It was decided that the JJ authorities should dispose of the bodies on a priority basis.’’
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