Form of words:
New Delhi: The Indian government has notified changes to post-mortem protocols that allow them to be conducted at any time of the day, regardless of whether natural light is available or not. However, this is subject to the availability of suitable infrastructure in the hospitals where autopsies are being conducted.
Officials of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that though there is no law barring autopsies after sunset, the practice of conducting post-mortem examinations only in broad daylight was often used as an excuse to delay the process, Especially in small towns.
The change in protocol is likely to make a huge difference not only to the families of the deceased – who often end up in an extraordinary wait to receive the body – but also to India’s organ donation programme.
Read also: ‘Don’t take your organs with you to heaven’ – Government urges Indians on Organ Donation Day
new protocol
A post-mortem examination, as the name suggests, is performed by pathologists and forensic medicine doctors after a person has died, usually to find out the cause of death. Not all dead bodies are post-mortemed.
This only. is done in those cases Where the cause of death is not known, or the circumstances are doubtful, or if the death is sudden or violent.
one in Statement Regarding the changed protocol, the ministry, issued on Monday, said that the decision has been taken “in response to several references that have been received by the Union Health Ministry from various sources and in line with the government’s commitment to promote livelihoods by reducing the burden”. This is in line with its commitment to deliver. To comply with government procedures”. It said the new protocol allowing post-sunset autopsies is “effective from today”.
“Apart from friends and relatives of the deceased, this new procedure also promotes organ donation and transplantation as organs can be harvested in a stipulated time after the procedure,” the statement said.
However, the changes come with some riders. In deaths where there is a suspicion or allegation of murder, suicide or rape, or if the body has been decomposed or there is suspected mutilation, the examination of bodies should be carried out only during daylight hours. But even in such cases, there is an exception – if the law and order situation is critical, the process can be expedited (meaning the post-mortem examination can be conducted after broad daylight).
importance of light
Light is important in postmortem examinations because the color of the wound or internal organs can provide valuable information about the cause of death.
in 2005 paper In Medical Journal of Armed Forces in IndiaDr RB Kotabagi, then head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, wrote: “A well-equipped autopsy room with efficient cold-storage facility is the essential infrastructure.
“The autopsy room should have good natural light, exhaust ventilation, fly-proofing, running water supply, good drainage and an autopsy table with central drainage. Natural light is best because different shades of colors appreciate better. So as a rule, autopsies are not to be conducted at night under artificial lighting,” he said.
However, Dr TD Dogra, former AIIMS director and forensic medicine expert, said that it originated from British India.
Autopsies began sometime in the 1860s. There was no electricity at that time so the post-mortem could not be done after sunset. Light is important for the interpretation of wounds. But you have to understand that there is no order in writing. This is just a convention that is going on,” he said.
He referred to his own paper on artificial lighting in autopsy rooms which was published in Journal of Police Research and Development In 1984, a light of 150 lumens (the unit of brightness of light) on the table is sufficient to perform an autopsy to clarify that.
In fact, he said, at AIIMS New Delhi, autopsies were performed in a basement, with artificial lighting, until the early 2000s. “When I joined AIIMS in 1971, we conducted autopsies with only artificial lighting. Several states like Gujarat and Maharashtra have already issued notifications allowing 24-hour autopsies.
Read also: AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital begin testing of bodies for COVID-19 before autopsy
implications for organ donation
Despite a large number of deaths due to traffic accidents, there has been no increase in autopsy in India due to several reasons. One of these is the Daylight Autopsy Convention. At one point, it was even suggested To maintain the viability of the organs, the retrieval of that organ is done before the autopsy.
“It has been learned that some institutions are already conducting post-mortem at night time,” the ministry said in its statement on Monday.
“In view of the rapid progress and improvement in technology, especially the availability of necessary lighting and necessary infrastructure for post-mortems, it is now possible to conduct night-time post-mortems in hospitals,” it added.
It added that the protocol, “stipulates that post-mortems for organ donation will be done on priority and will be conducted even after sunset in hospitals, which have the infrastructure to conduct such postmortems on a regular basis”.
“The fitness and adequacy of infrastructure etc. will be assessed by the in-charge of the hospital to ensure that there is no shortfall in the evidence value. It is also to be ensured by the facility that video recording of the postmortems will be done for all the postmortems conducted at night to remove any doubts and to preserve it for future reference for legal purposes.
(Edited by Polomi Banerjee)
Read also: A police surgeon writes about his first excavation and postmortem — of a Malayali actress
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