In a first, Kovai ESI Hospital allowed to perform postmortems

COIMBATORE: Soon, Government Medical College and ESI Hospital in Coimbatore will carry out postmortems for the first time ever across the country.

“Ours is the first ESI Hospital in the country to take up post mortems. The hospital is ready with the required medical infrastructure and some jurisdiction issues are being finalised to commence the process. Performing postmortem in ESI Hospital will reduce the heavy load on Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH),” said M Raveendran, Dean of Government Medical College and ESI Hospital.

For the convenience of public and police, the existing police jurisdiction in the district has been bifurcated into two to perform postmortems.

After bifurcation, the autopsy in the jurisdiction of seven Coimbatore city police stations and 19 rural police stations will be performed at the Government Medical College and ESI Hospital. Similarly, an autopsy in the jurisdiction of 24 police stations, including eight city stations will be done at CMCH.

The entire process of identifying the police jurisdiction and other formalities was carried out on a war footing in a short span of few months with the co-ordination of district administration, police and Health Department. A Government Order (GO) has also been issued giving a go ahead for the hospital to perform postmortem.

“The ESI Hospital has facilities to perform up to 10 autopsies in a day. Currently, the hospital is equipped with a cold storage facility to preserve 18 bodies. It will be upgraded to store up to 30 bodies. The mortuary has CCTVs installed,” he said.

Further, the coming up of a mortuary will also help medical students to get hands-on experience. “Apart from students admitted in Government Medical College and ESI Hospital, around 1,000 students from five medical colleges will be benefitted by the move,” the Dean added. A team of six expert medical professionals have been deputed to carry out postmortems in the ESI Hospital.