Fourteen autopsies in a day: Hospital calls in extra staff
NEWDELHI: On Sunday, the forensic department of the Baba Saheb Ambedkar (BSA) hospital did 14 post-mortems in a single day. Of these, 12 bodies belonged to the victims of the fire in Bawana.
It was unprecedented for the department which usually does around 5 post-mortems day. To meet the situation, additional staff was requisitioned.
“There are days when no postmortems happen, but if there is an accident or other incident, we receive six or seven dead bodies together. However, this is the first time we have done 14 in a day,” said Dr Vijay Dhankar, head of the department of forensic medicine at BSA hospital.
Four doctors — two from the forensic department of BSA hospital, one called in from the associated college, and another from Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial hospital, 31 kms away — reached the mortuary at 8 am on Sunday. Usually, on Sundays, one of the two doctors is on call for half-day and comes only if there is a case.
Apart from doctors, the forensic department has only four staff members. But on Sunday, nearly 20 people could be seen working around the mortuary. Staff members from the hospital wards and the medical college had to be pulled in to help the doctors. All of them knew it was going to be a long day. They had been informed last night that the bodies of the victims of fire at a factory in Bawana will reach the hospital for forensic analysis.
It was at about 8:20am, that the doctors started the first case of the day after the relatives were able to recognise the body and the police had filed the necessary paperwork. After that, the doctors hardly took any break till 3pm, when they finished their twelfth post-mortem.
After this, they gathered at an attached room, with cups of tea in hand, and started filing the paperwork, writing down the causes of death. “Legally we cannot disclose the cause of death, however, in such cases most of the people choked due to smoke inhalation,” said Dr Dhankar.
Along with him, Dr Mahesh Chand Meena, Dr Mukesh Kumar and Dr Kuldeep Kr Panchal did the post-mortems. He came to Delhi two years ago looking for a job from his ancestral house in Unnao, UP. Suraj died at the factory where he worked and lived. He landed the job there through the reference of a relative who was already employed at the factory. His relatives said he wanted to earn money to support his parents, who were farmers. Suraj was the eldest among his three siblings and his family said he had the responsibility of marrying off his two sisters. His father Shyam Bihari said Suraj seldom discussed his job with them. Had the Delhi police been vigilant and alerted civic agencies about a firecrackers unit running inside the building, the incident could have been prevented. Hailing from Bihar, Ajeet had come to Delhi a month ago. He had been working as a farmer in his village and had arrived in Delhi looking to earn more money. He came to the Capital along with a group of people from his village and landed a job as a supervisor at the factory last month, his family said. He was unmarried. Initially, police was unable to identify Ajeet’s body. It was only late on Sunday afternoon that his family arrived from the village and was able to help police in identifying his remains. It was Reeta’s first day at the job. A resident of Metro Vihar, she had left home at around 9am with other women in her neighbourhood who worked nearby. Her brother, Dipu, said Reeta had told him that she would be back home by
5.30pm. Till late Saturday night, her family was unaware that she was working in the same factory that caught fire and was being shown on the TV.
Her father is a farmer in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, while her mother works as a labourer in the same area. Though the DSIIDC is only tasked with allotting the plots, one of the inspector’s job is to ensure that the factory is being used as per permission sought while seeking the licence. The plastic factory was being used to store fire crackers, but the DSIIDC was not aware of it.
(DM’S office)
Had the local district magistrate’s office conducted an inspection of the area, they would have learnt about the flouting of safety norms and unearthed stock of fireworks. In most districts, such inspection is held at marriage halls, factories and venues where large gatherings are held. The municipal corporation is the license issuing authority. They should have checked and alerted Delhi Fire Services, DSIIDC about the flouting of safety norms and hazardous material stocked.