MARGAO, JUNE 14
The Hospicio mortuary was back in the news once again for the wrong reasons. This time, however, there was no complaint of space constraint at the 18-unit mortuary, but the Hospital simply had no senior medico-legal surgeon to conduct a post-mortem examination on Monday.
The hospital witnessed uproar this morning after relatives of the girl – murdered in Margao on Sunday – came to the hospital to take possession of her body, only to find no doctor to conduct the autopsy.
A lady medical officer, drafted by the Government to the Hospicio mortuary, declined to perform the autopsy on grounds that it was a murder case.
A relative of the girl maintained that they were called to the hospital at 9.30 am today to take possession of the girl’s body, but added that the post-mortem did not take place even at 11.30 am.
Worse still, since there was no senior medico-legal surgeon, acting Hospicio Medical Superintendent, Dr Nasnodkar issued instructions to the lady medical officer to transport the girl’s body and get the post-mortem done by a senior doctor at the Goa Medical College and hospital mortuary.
This infuriated the relatives, who were left high and dry for no fault of theirs, since they were anxious to take possession of the body to perform the final rites this evening.
The acting Hospicio superintendent informed that the lady medical officer had her own limitations in carrying out the post-mortem of the girl’s body. “Since it is a murder case, it is in the fitness of things that the autopsy was done by a senior doctor”, he added.
The explanation failed to satisfy the agitated relatives, who demanded to know why the commonman is put to great hardships for want of a doctor. “If the lady doctor is not authorised to perform post-mortem examinations, why is she appointed at Hospicio”, a member of the Hospicio Visiting Committee, Damu Shirodkar demanded to know.
Shirodkar said if the senior consultant, Dr Avinash Poojary is on leave, the acting Hospicio medical superintendent ought to have made alternate arrangements, adding that the girl’s family ought to have been told last night about the prevailing situation at the district hospital.
