New mortuary at TB hospital lies dead

TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

MARGAO: It’s exactly two months today since Goa Sate Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) handed over to the government possession of the brand new 20-unit mortuary at the TB Sanatorium atop Monte Hill.

But dead bodies continue to be shunted to the Goa Medical College mortuary at Bambolim, with the Hospicio mortuary full to the brim and the new state-of-the-art morgue at TB hospital awaiting official commissioning.

The reasons are not far too seek: First, the question arose over whether the police department or the Director of Health Services would take charge and look after the new mortuary at the TB hospital. And when the government finally resolved the imbroglio with a decision that the mortuary would be under the administrative control of the Health Director came the problem of staff to man the unit.

Herald understands that no sooner the government decided that the Health Services would take charge of the morgue, the Health Director, Dr Sanjeev Dalvi, dashed off a letter to TB Hospital Medical Superintendent to intimate the department of the manpower requirements to run the new mortuary.

It is leant that the TB hospital has called for the recruitment of six morgue attendants to man the unit round-the-clock, besides clerical staff comprising of an UDC and LDC, and a peon. In addition, the TB hospital called for the services of an AC technician for routine maintenance of the unit.

Questions are raised whether the new mortuary will be commissioned only after the government sanctions and appoints the staff, more so when the existing Hospicio morgue is unable to cater to the daily requirements, forcing the police and the relatives to shunt dead bodies from Hospicio to the GMC.

Sources in the know said the previous Digambar Kamat government had planned the new mortuary unit at the TB hospital to cater to the unclaimed dead bodies brought to the unit for preservation by the police because the mortuary space at Hospicio was found mostly occupied by the unidentified dead bodies, leaving hardly any space for other bodies.