SSG hospital Postmortem department and cold room is the largest in Central Gujarat

Postmortem of 2000 bodies (non-covid) including 1500 in corona period has been done here, autopsy performed at 7 to 8 covid positive bodies in special circumstances

Death is an unpleasant or unwanted event but a postmortem is required to reveal the cause of death in various accidents or suspicious circumstances.

And often in the event of a controversial death, such a post-mortem examination is carried out by a panel of more than one physician collectively with videography and under a special order.  This medical examination, which is recognized under the law, is an important part of medical and forensic science education. The post-mortem department and cold rooms are mostly in government hospitals affiliated to government medical colleges.

Dr. O.B. Belim, Administrative Nodal Officer, Sayaji Covid Department, informed that the cold room required for post mortem department and preservation of corpses of Government Sayaji Hospital, Vadodara, is the largest in Central Gujarat.  He said that the department continued to operate continuously and uninterruptedly throughout the year even when many medical and surgical activities were limited due to the risk of infection in the covid year of 2020.

Under the leadership of Dr. Sunil Bhatt of this department dedicated team of Dr. Vijay Singh Rathore, Dr. Pankaj Prajapati, Dr. Prateek Patel and Jagdishbhai and his staff who have been working in this department for two decades, conducted about 1500 post mortems during March to December and around 2000 throughout the year including 500 medico legal posts under special orders.  

In case of covid positive death PM was not done to avoid the risk of infection under multiple covid guidelines. However, subject to special legal requirements and constraints, the team assumed the PPE kit and took all precautions to complete postmortem on 7 to 8 Covid deaths, says Dr. Belim.

Dr. Belim says that Corona has changed a lot in that P.M. is also not excluded. The guideline for post-mortem examination of corpses has been constantly revised, regardless of the disease and the risk of infection.

In case of emergency and death, brought by the police or relatives, in case of death brought by strangers, the body should be covid tested as per the latest instructions and following the guideline of positive or negative and formally handed over or coordinate with VMC and cremate or buried the bodies. The postmortem was also done in special circumstances.

Out of the total 36 cold rooms available in the PM department in SSG, 6 cold rooms have been allotted separately for the Corona positive body for vigilance.

Medico-legal post-mortem is mainly done as part of crime detection to obtain important and accurate evidence which is reported to be useful in finding accurate judgment based on findings in court cases and other disputes including inheritance.  This department has done around 500 postmortems in 2020.

This is very useful in preparing an evidence-based certificate showing the cause of death in the event of a vehicle accident, strangulation or other suicide, poisoning, burns, drowning, or electric shock. It is of great use in the education of bachelors and postgraduates of forensic science.