LAHORE:An investigation into the distressing incident after disturbing images of decaying bodies purportedly left on the roof of the mortuary at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital were shared on social media reveals that it was more of a case of breaking medical ethics and standard operating procedure (SOP) than anything else.
Medical professionals dubbed the entire situation “inhumane, unethical, and a breach of SOPs,” and the Punjab government also acted on Friday in response to a significant media controversy and demanded a probe into the occurrence.
Also taking note of the situation, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi asked the health secretary for a report. He declared that throwing bodies onto the hospital’s roof was cruel. That the culpable employees should face severe disciplinary measures.
A three-person committee has been established by the vice chancellor of Nishtar Medical University to look into the situation. Dr. Abbas, the dean of the school of basic sciences, Dr. Mustafa, an associate professor, and Dr. Saeed.
The director of the campus, makes up the committee.
The director of the anatomy department, Prof. Dr. Maryam Ashraf, made an attempt to explain in a video statement. How the hospital dealt with unidentified and unclaimed dead. As well as how rotting bodies were utilized by medical students for teaching purposes.
Home and health departments
She stated that the Nishtar hospital had a morgue where unidentified and unclaimed dead were held. The bodies that began to rot were put in airy chambers on the mortuary’s roof. According to her, some of the unclaimed remains were employed for the purpose of instructing medical students. In strict accordance with the guidelines established by the home and health departments.
She also refuted claims that there were over 500 dead there, arguing that medical professionals would comprehend the situation. She urged medical practitioners to spread awareness of the usage of cadavers in medicine.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Tariq Zaman Gujjar, the chief minister of Punjab’s advisor, revealed. He had been informed by a tip-off that remains were decomposing on the mortuary’s roof. When he got to the morgue, he said that nobody would unlock the doors for him. He discovered 25 more victims deposited in a locked chamber. That seemed to be a storage space, while four dead were lying in the open on the roof.
The bodies, according to Mr. Gujjar, are utilized by medical students. He said, “The remains should have been given a dignified burial with funeral prayers. After being utilized for educational reasons, instead they were abandoned on the roof.”
“Unredeemed” bodies
The police submitted remains to the mortuary in accordance with Section 174. The PPC, Multan City Police Officer (CPO) Khurrum Shehzad Haider. They also published unclaimed dead in newspapers for identification. These were given to their heirs when the necessary legal procedures were completed.
He continued by saying that there were two kinds of bodies the police encountered. Those connected to crimes and those who had passed away naturally. When a body has injuries, the police do a postmortem inspection. However, when a body has medical issues, the mortuary receives it without performing a postmortem.
According to Mr. Haider, 74 remains, including putrefied ones, are presently held at the mortuary.I discovered that decayed bones are kept in a gated cage, but never outside in the sun since they cannot be frozen.
The CPO made it quite apparent that bodies should be conserved by following the SOPs and that discarding them in the open was cruel.
In response to a question regarding whether the institution had informed the police about the use of bodies for medical purposes, he claimed such was not the case. But according to Dr. Sajjad Masood, spokesperson for Nishtar Hospital, “we always write to the station house officer concerned before using bodies for instructional reasons.”
Nishtar Hospital and Medical College
Laiq Hussain Siddiqui, a former principal of Nishtar Medical College, told that while it was customary for unclaimed and unidentified bodies to be used for medical purposes by the university, they were preserved after embalming. He also emphasized that putrefying bodies were not left in the open but were instead kept in an airy room that was established during his tenure.
He claimed that while decayed remains weren’t retained at the morgue because of the unpleasant odor, they were sent to the college’s anatomy department to be utilized for instruction. The bones of human bodies were employed by the anatomy department to instruct medical students, and these remains were preserved by chemical injection.
Mr. Siddiqui thought that the floods in south Punjab may have increased the number of unclaimed dead. That because of their high number, some may have place on the roof due to a shortage of room. After making an effort to identify them and look for the heirs. The police “give over these remains to the hospital,” the man added.
After months, unidentified remains would frequently be claimed by some people’s heirs. He noted that even after embalming and preserving a body, the anatomy department had to return it to the heirs on several occasions.
However, he believed the hospital had acted negligently and the procedure was against SOPs based on what he saw in the social media images that showed many bodies put in a confined room.
