A response made by PGIMER(Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research), Chandigarh to an application by The Indian Express under the RTI ACT shows that between 1994 and December 31, 2014 six resident doctors had contracted tuberculosis among mortuary staffers. One came down with Hepatitis B. Though the various AIIMS and PGIMER hospitals across the nation contacted by the newspaper said that relevant records were unavailable, doctors and researchers opine a higher number of TB cases among mortuary staff than is normal.

A study that was earlier conducted by the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology in Chandigarh’s Government Medical College makes the point that an autopsy may subject doctor and other staff to multiple infectious agents including HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and Myobacterium TB.

Data procured by The Indian Express under the RTI Act shows that since 1999 at least 25 staffers working in different autopsy centres in Mumbai have died. 18 of these lives were claimed by TB while two succumbed to HIV. Two ended their lives themselves.

Recently, the case of a 29 year old man working in a state-run mortuary in Mumbai contracting TB was reported by The Indian Express. The person who joined an autopsy centre in 2008 was diagnosed with TB on January, 2015. He got the infection after working on the body of a TB patient. Since contracting the disease, his body weight has come down from 74 kilos to 55 kilos. He is afraid that death is not far away.

Flimsy gloves, decaying bodies and rat infested corners

Inside one of the Mumbai mortuaries

Those who work in the same autopsy centre says that there exists no system of regular screening for workers in the centre. As is the case with those who work in the 10 mortuaries in Mumbai, they too get just one disposable mask for every 10 bodies. Thin plastic gloves that tear easily are used for the procedures. Also, there is no regular meal times, which makes the immunity take a beating.

It’s highly recommended that personal protective gear is used during all autopsies. However, almost all of Mumbai’s mortuaries go lax on such measures. The Indian Express reports that while gumboots are simply not available in many mortuaries, aprons are used only if the body belonged to someone who had TB or Hepatitis or was HIV positive.

Another article published by the same newspaper is more graphic in nature. It speaks about a body decaying at 7 degree Celsius in a mortuary, 5 months after the person’s death. The body, the skin of which is peeling is wrapped in a white shroud and stacked on top of another body on a stretcher.

The mortuary in question has a capacity of just six, however it was storing 10 dead bodies at the end of March. The lack of space has forced the concerned to fold one of the bodies in half so that it can be tucked away near the door. The article mentions how thermocol crumbs left behind by rats surround the bodies.

Nausea-inducing as such details may be, the article points out the unhygienic conditions in which many of the doctors and other medical staff function.

Images credit: The Indian Express

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