Burdwan Medical College and Hospital morgue to be renovated

The morgue at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital will be renovated. The state Health department has decided to renovate the morgue and allocated Rs 75 lakh for that purpose. The work will start soon.

However, the hospital authority decided to shift the morgue to Katwa Hospital on a temporary basis. But many people protested the decision of shifting the morgue from Burdwan Medical College and Hospital to Katwa hospital.

“We’ll shift the morgue to Katwa hospital. The infrastructure of the morgue needs to be upgraded. The state government has already allocated money for it,” said Dr Utpal Dan, the superintendent of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.

However, the cooling machine of the morgue was defunct since some months. “Foul odour emanates from the morgue. Due to this, some of the doctors, visiting faculties, and medical students fell ill,” a hospital staff said.

However, some people alleged that the shifting of morgue will cause problem to get autopsy report. “Sometime we need autopsy report on an emergency basis. But shifting of morgue will hamper police’s work,” said an officer.

The condition of the morgue at the Burdwan Medical College and hospital is worsening day-by-day, resulting in an environmental hazard in the adjacent densely populated localities. The hospital not only provides treatment to people of the district, but patients of the adjacent districts like, Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly and even Purulia rely on it.

More than 5-6 dead bodies undergo post-mortem there, daily. Lack of infrastructure specially the air conditioning system of the busiest morgue in the area, results in quick decomposing. The unclaimed bodies are kept in the morgue and ‘cleared up’ on every Tuesday. The decomposed bodies not only spread bad odours but also pollution in the adjoining area. The morgue is surrounded by a high school and about four hostels of the Burdwan University.