Deen Dayal mortuary in bad shape

4 of 12 cold chambers not in working condition

At least four of the 12 cold chambers at the state-run Deen Dayal Upadhyay mortuary are not in working condition for many months now, according to a senior official at the hospital.

The mortuary accommodates till 45-50 bodies at any given time. The cold room in it has a capacity to accommodate till 20 bodies.

Two bodies can be stored in a cold chamber. So non-functional cold chambers strain the total capacity of the mortuary. The maximum traffic of bodies at the hospital is of suicide and accident cases.

“The cold chambers are old and need repairing. We are in the process of floating tenders for the repair work of the cold chambers. The maximum number of bodies are kept in the cold room. The cold chambers are in the open area and each can accommodate till two bodies,” said Savita Babbar, medical superintendent, DDU Hospital.

There is a need to upgrade the facilities at the mortuary, said a senior official. A cold room is a better option than cold chambers to accommodate the bodies. With the cold chambers kept in open area, there bodies are more exposed to being infected, said the official. There is also a need for adequate number of stretchers for bodies to be accommodated in the cold room, the official added.

The hospital mortuary conducts between one to 35 post-mortems every day and around 1,800 annually.

The mortuary has recently received an additional wing where doctors can conduct autopsies. Currently, a review is on on the infrastructural deficit in the hospital mortuary.

“Even though the infrastructure is not at its best, it seems things are in process at least now,” said the mortuary official. Deccan Herald had earlier reported on the staff crunch at the hospital. With the mortuary reeling under severe staff shortage, the authorities were forced to hand over duties of post-mortem attendants to sweepers.

It is necessary that the attendants at least have a clear idea of the human anatomy which the safai karamcharis lack. There are also not enough doctors at the mortuary.
“The recruitment process is on and the vacancies will be filled soon,” said the official.