Five unclaimed bodies at Margao morgue at Hospicio, Monte, seem to be thwarting the maintenance process, with one lying unclaimed for over a year now, even after Margao Municipal Council (MMC) has finally moved to dispose off three bodies lying in the morgue.
The Medical Superintendent, Dr Ira Almeida, has complained that the unclaimed bodies in the morgue have affected the routine maintenance and cleaning work of the morgue.
She said the morgue situated at the TB Hospital had five compartments, with each compartment holding four bodies.
“Every month we would shut down one compartment for maintenance where the trays would be sun-dried and the gas pipes allowed to defrost,” she said, adding that now they cannot follow the practice due to the presence of the unclaimed bodies brought by the police.
Earlier, police could not issue the NOC quickly to dispose the body, but now they have given the NOC to dispose all the eight bodies at the morgue.
The MMC Chairperson, Dr Babita Prabhudessai, said the file to dispose of the three bodies has already been sent to the Chief Officer who would soon sign it. As the Collector was holding additional charge of Chief Officer, it was not possible to immediately check the status of the file.
However, five unclaimed bodies still remain at Hospicio and these include one that was brought by the Cuncolim police over a year ago.
Although the police and the Hospicio have written three letters to the Cuncolim Municipal Council to dispose the body, there has been no response till date.
There are two bodies that were brought by Vasco police and two bodies brought by the Konkan Railway Police Station, which are also awaiting disposal.
Incidentally, the local self-government bodies, whether the municipal councils or the panchayats have a provision of funds for disposal of bodies in their annual budget. For example, MMC has provided Rs 3 lakhs in the present financial year, while last year Rs 2 lakhs were allotted.
In Margao, the disposal of one body costs around Rs 1,800, with Rs 1,200 being the crematorium charges and Rs 600 paid to the two labourers who carry the body and dispose it.
