The Tamil Nadu government has allotted Rs1.82 crore for a modern morgue
Dilapidated building structures of the mortuary at Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH). (Photo: DC/File)
Coimbatore:The Tamil Nadu government has allotted Rs 1.82 crore for a modern morgue at the Coimbatore medical college hospital. The tender for carrying out the civil work will be finalised soon and construction work will commence in a couple of weeks, said officials at CMCH.
The PWD settled on the design after inspecting the hi-tech morgue in Dharmapuri and other districts. The CMCH is among the five government hospitals chosen by the state government to improve postmortem examination facilities. The other institutions are the Government Rajaji Hospital at Madurai, Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, Government Stanley Hospital and the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai.
The new morgue will come up on 7,500 square feet of land. The ground floor of the two-storeyed morgue will have a waiting area and parking lots for ambulances. The forensic department will be stocked with sophisticated equipment to expedite the process and reduce the waiting time.
A cold storage unit will be installed to preserve unclaimed bodies and prevent odours. The new mortuary will be fully air-conditioned and have 24 x 7 power supply, officials said.
Deccan Chronicles first to expose poor condition of morgue:
In a major expose, the Deccan Chronicle had revealed, with shocking photographs, a post mortem being done in the open, outside the morgue at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. The paper, in an article in its December 10, 2013 edition, exposed how bodies were cut open with crude, rusty tools like a hammer, knife and axe. The existing morgue is functioning out of a dilapidated building, parts of which are crumbling. Sanitary workers, afraid to work in the run-down building, were performing the post mortem in the open in full public view.
Reacting to the article, District Collector Archana Patnaik announced that a new morgue would be constructed. But as there were differences over its location, the project was delayed. Hospital officials were opposed to locating the morgue near the RMO's quarters while the former mayor S. M. Velusamy wanted it to move from the present location to the right of the entrance of the hospital. The differences have been resolved and the project is now set to take off.
( Source : tamil nadu government allots funds for modern morgue )
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