Telangana High Court takes suo moto cognizance of rotten dead bodies at Gandhi Hospital morgue

Hyderabad: Taking cognizance of a news report highlighting the poor condition at Gandhi Hospital mortuary, The Telangana High Court has made the government, the health department, and the superintendent of the hospital the respondents in a case demanding answers on the issue. 

The High Court had made the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary of the Medical and Health Department, Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare and the Chief Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital as respondents in the case.

According to Sisat Daily, the court has taken suo moto cognizance of a news report published by The Hindu over dead bodies getting rotten at Gandhi Hospital mortuary as a PIL petition.

The report published in The Hindu described a concerning situation at Gandhi Hospital. It reported that there is a problem with the cold storage boxes in the hospital's mortuary, with a significant number of them not functioning. As a result, there is insufficient space to store deceased bodies properly, leading to the decay of some bodies within the facility.

Also read- 37-Year-Old Resident Doctor Of Gandhi Hospital Suffers Cardiac Arrest, Dies

The report also mentioned that the hospital has around 60 cold storage boxes in its mortuary, but only 25 of them are operational. This leaves a substantial number of cold storage boxes out of order, contributing to the issue. The situation is particularly concerning because the facility handles bodies of accident victims, individuals who have died under suspicious circumstances, and unidentified bodies, which all require proper post-mortem examination and storage.

The daily stated that the hospital is dealing with a significant number of unclaimed bodies, which presents a unique challenge. The hospital is obligated to wait for 72 hours for someone to come forward and claim these deceased individuals. However, due to the malfunctioning cold storage boxes, the bodies are decomposing within this time frame. This decomposition makes it difficult for doctors to perform post-mortems effectively and further exacerbates the unpleasant odour in the mortuary.

The foul smell emanating from these bodies getting decomposed due to the non-availability of cold storage boxes was making it difficult for the doctors, paramedical staff and police personnel to discharge their duties at the mortuary.

Sharing his experience when he arrived at the mortuary to attend to his deceased relative, kin told TH, “At 7 in the evening, we were sent a photo of my relative’s deceased body, who lost his life in a road accident. I arrived here the following day at 1.30 p.m. in the afternoon. However, when I entered the mortuary to identify the body, I couldn’t recognise it due to decomposition. I had to rely on the clothing to make a positive identification.”

The matter was first pointed out by Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development G Kishan Reddy who took to 'X' and shared the poor condition of Gandhi Hospital mortuary which brought significant public and media interest.

"Cold storage boxes that were donated to the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic have not yet been installed even after two years have passed," said the Minister.

A Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Laxmi Narayana Alishetty will hear the suo motu taken up PIL plea  

Following the hearing, the court is expected to issue instructions to the government regarding the suo motu taken up PIL petition.

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