The Mapusa District Hospital, which is also known as Asilo hospital, caters to half of the North Goa’s population. The district hospital morgue has 12 rooms.
Of these, four are functional while the remaining eight are lying unused.
Of the four rooms, three are used to preserve the bodies of accident victims and of those who have died an unnatural death while the other room is reserved for preserving bodies of patients who have succumbed in the hospital wards.
Sources informed that the morgue room housing the bodies of patients who have succumbed in wards is in bad state. The room has developed leakages with ice water melting disrupting the room temperature leading to decomposition of the bodies within four hours of preservation.
Sources informed that since the morgue rooms are in a bad condition due to non maintenance, the authorities are forced to shift the bodies to Goa Medical College and Hospital at Bambolim for further preservation and this has been going on since the last 4 years
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a local said, “My mother died in the ward while she was undergoing treatment. On that day, the room reserved for preservation of dead bodies from wards was full due to which the doctors tried to shift her body to Goa Medical College and Hospital . When asked as to why they are shifting my mother’s body to Goa Medical College and Hospital , the authorities said there is no space”.
When contacted, Superintendent of Mapusa District Hospital Dr Geeta Kakodkar said, “The issue exists but we are working on it. The cabinets are under servicing and the required parts have already been ordered and will be delivered by Thursday. In next two days, the cabinets will be serviced and issue will be solved. Presently, we have kept two morgue cabinets closed so that we can work on their maintenance. We are using one cabinet. The maintenance work is under process”.
