UP govt hospital carries out autopsies under torchlight

Relatives asked to hold light near bodies for the process

Two autopsies were reportedly conducted under the torchlight at the post-mortem house on Sunday night in Baghpat district as there was neither power nor a generator at the government hospital.

What was more shocking was that the relatives of the deceased were asked to carry the torches to the post-mortem house and hold them there till the autopsies were over.

Two youths were reportedly killed in separate road mishaps in Baghpat on Sunday morning. Police wasted a lot of time in completing the formalities following which the bodies were sent to the district hospital late in the evening for post-mortem examination.
As the relatives of the youths kept pressing for quick autopsy, the district authorities directed the doctors to conduct post-mortem at night.

But doctors expressed helplessness as the hospital neither had power nor any generator.

They asked the relatives to bring torches if they wanted the autopsies to be conducted. The ordeal of the relatives did not end there.

The doctors also told them that since there was no one to show them the light, they should stand near the bodies with the torches so that the post-mortem could be performed.

The relatives had to face this trauma for the sake of their loved ones.
The chief medical officer, Dr J P Sharma, said post-mortems were often conducted in the light of petromax as there was no generator or inverter which reflects the sorry state of affairs of the government hospitals in the state.

Candle light deliveries

Reports of deliveries taking place at the community health centres in Uttar Pradesh
 under candlelight are also common.

Medical and health services are poor in Uttar Pradesh which was recently rocked by the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam.
Funds meant for augmenting health services in the rural areas were allegedly misappropriated by politicians and bureaucrats.