India to introduce postmortem without dissecting body

The All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), New Delhi, and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) are jointly working on a technique to conduct postmortem without dissecting the body, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, said in the Rajya Sabha, on Tuesday.

A high level expert team visited different countries in Europe and studied the method of 'virtual autopsy.' The new technique is likely to be implemented in India in the next six-month, the minister said.

Many countries including Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Israel, and all the west Asian countries have already started doing virtual autopsies.

So, there is enough of data about the whole subject in the world, the minister said adding that, "India is the first country that is going to start it in the Southeast Asia Region."

The AIIMS is in advance stages to implement this and it is in the process of purchasing CT machine. Initially, it is going to be started only in AIIMS, Delhi, and subsequently it will be introduced into other institutions. The AIIMS will provide training, he said.

The ICMR and AIIMS have studied global practices for "dignified management of a dead body", Vardhan said, adding family members of the deceased feel uncomfortable with the traditional way of postmortem.

He said all records will be digitally stored for review.

Vardhan said that the virtual autopsy will be cost and time effective as it would take only 30 minutes to complete an autopsy as against two-and-half hour.