Kochi: The high court on Thursday directed the concerned authorities to set up facilities to conduct post-mortem during night hours in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Thrissur and Kozhikode medical colleges within the next six months.
Post-mortem should also be carried out during night hours at Kasargod General Hospital. The facilities, including the required staff, should be made available within a month. If an unnatural death is reported, the government will be responsible for conducting an inquest, post-mortem and return the body to the relatives. The cost of these procedures should be borne by the government, the order states. The verdict was pronounced by Justice PV Kunjikrishnan.
In 2015, the government decided to conduct post-mortems during night as a pilot project in five medical colleges across the state. However, the plan could not be implemented due to lack of adequate doctors. Post-mortem during night was also recently approved by the Central Government. But, the state government said that the project cannot be initiated as there are obstacles due to lack of infrastructure.
The court ruled in favour of the Kerala Medico-Legal Society in a petition seeking provision of infrastructure for post-mortem at night.
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