Hyderabad: “No vote if Gandhi Hospital mortuary is not shifted.” So goes the demand from residents of Shambhavi and Sheshadhari apartment blocks of Padmaraonagar division.
Residents say the capacity of the mortuary is of less than 50 freezers, too little, and as a result, most of the unclaimed bodies are dumped in a shutter behind the mortuary.
Air-conditioners do not function, and the foul smell haunts the area, they say.
Last year, when residents protested over the issue, 180 bodies were removed and the Secunderabad BJP MP had promised residents to construct a separate mortuary on the city’s outskirts to keep unclaimed bodies.
Nothing of the sort has happened. R. Thomas, secretary of the Shambhavi apartment association said, “The issue has been troubling us ever since the mortuary came up. Foul smell was being experienced now and then, not always. Over the last few years, this problem has worsened. We lodged complaints, but to no avail. The capacity of the mortuary is less than 50 (freezers) and the unclaimed bodies are dumped in a shutter behind the mortuary. There is no check on the functioning of the air-conditioners. It takes months for the police to prepare a Panchnama (postmortem report), and the bodies lie here unclaimed. Some of these bodies could be weeks old and others months old. The hospital authorities say disposal is not their job.”
“We cannot open our windows and the situation becomes worse during the windy days. Several apartments face the Gandhi Hospital, and are troubled thus. After the issue was raised, over 180 bodies were disposed of using GHMC garbage trucks,” said A. Raj Kumari, treasurer of Shambhavi Apartments.
The hospital authorities say washed their hands of the issue, saying they are not responsible for disposal of the bodies.
