Multiple factors behind body blunder at GMC

Panaji: A combination of factors, including human errors complemented by malfunctioning of morgue cabinets, led to the forensic department of Goa Medical College (GMC) making a monumental blunder on Friday when a wrong body was handed to the Corporation of the City (CCP) depriving the Gonsalves family a decent burial of their son Januz.
The cabinets of the supposedly state-of-the-art mortuary, which is barely five-year-old continues to break down, a perpetual headache for the mortuary staff. When any cabinet malfunctions, the body preserved in it is shifted to a working cabinet, a source said.

In this case, one Vishant Naik’s body was brought to the GMC morgue in 2015 by the CCP, but it was shifted three times due to failure of the cabinets. Naik’s body was first kept in the cabinet no. 105. On its breakdown, it was moved to cabinet no. 220 and subsequently to cabinet no. 228.

A source said part of the error occurred when body was shifted from cabinet no. 228 to 220. “Vishant Naik’s name was mentioned against cabinet no. 228 but was not deleted in the register even as his body was moved to the new cabinet,” he said.

When the forensic department wrote to the CCP requesting it to dispose of its bodies lying in the morgue for too long, a source said, Naik’s body was lodged in the cabinet no. 228.

During intervening period, the non-functioning empty cabinet no. 228 was repaired. So, when Januz Gonsalves’s body was brought by his family on Sunday last to be preserved until his funeral on Saturday, it was stacked into cabinet no. 228.

As per the procedure, cabinet no. 228 was mentioned on the communique sent to the CCP. The procedure, a source said also required the CCP to quote cabinet numbers when its employees came to claim its bodies. “The CCP naturally mentioned cabinet no. 228, so you can’t blame it,” said a source.

Record showed that Vishant Naik’s body was shown to be lodged at two different cabinets no. 228 and no. 220 – simultaneously, a source said.

“The problem could have been averted if records were maintained properly,” the source said.

However, unlike other morgues, the GMC morgue doesn’t have a superintendent even though it become bigger.

The doctors conducting postmortem have to handle the task of completing the paper work related to the body, physical verification of the same when it is handed over to a claimant. “This is an additional burden, a work generally done by a morgue superintendent. Not surprisingly, few dedicated doctors follow all the procedures. Others refuse seniors’ directives,” he said. A mortuary as big as the one at GMC should have a morgue superintendent, he said.

Initially, GMC had 27 cabinets in the morgue and later its capacity was enhanced to 65. But five years ago, when the government constructed the new toxicology and forensic department block at a cost of Rs 25 crore, a new 108-cabinet morgue was built.

The morgue remained unfunctional for two years due to a technical issue. A source said the flow of air in a morgue had to be east to west, but in the new morgue at GMC, it is north to south. “The major factor was ignored when it was built as a result the compressors failed to work properly and cooling did not happen at a required temperature,” he said.
The forensic department encountered a major problem soon after the new morgue was commissioned. A body kept in the new morgue deteriorated and the forensic staff had to face the wrath of angry relatives of a deceased.
A source said, the morgue was finally made functional by installing four air conditioners in compartment ‘A’ and ‘B’ respectively, to make compressors function efficiently. While it has become functional, breakdown in cabinets has not stopped. Repairs can’t be carried by calling local technical help. “An engineer to repair the cabinets comes from Delhi. He visits only when there are three or more cabinets to be repaired,” he said.
Unlike at other morgues, there is also no labelling of bodies, except for the hospital bodies. In the past, he said every body was labelled after postmortem in the GMC. A label was put on the deceased’s forehead. “The practice was discontinued over two decades ago,” he said.

Let's block ads! (Why?)