Dead bodies lie near Osmania General Hospital, unclaimed

Hyderabad: More than 10 unclaimed and unidentified bodies have been found in and around the Osmania General Hospital premises from mid-May. The bodies have been recovered by the Afzalgunj police who have claimed that hospital management was negligent about the proper disposal of the bodies. "The destitute bodies are brought to the OGH by the police and they are kept in the mortuary for three days. The hospital’s duty is to produce a forensic report. Disposing of the body is the responsibility of GHMC. It is because of their negligence that the bodies are found in such a way", said a senior hospital official.

OGH forensic department in-charge chief Dr Taqiuddin Khan said that after getting the body, they hand over the report to the persons concerned. He refused to comment on the discovery of bodies in the hospital premises. Another hospital official said, "Every day we get around 20 bodies of which four are reported as destitute by the police. The numbers are now showing up a lot more because of the GHMC negligence in the bodies away.”

He said some bodies are sent to the medical college which has to preserve them till the GHMC arrives to claim them. Afzalgunj police has claimed that there is no proper procedure for the disposal of bodies. "If a body is found, we file a case and send it over to the OGH mortuary for postmortem to know the cause of death. The body is supposed to be kept there for 72 hours for anyone to claim it. If there is no claimant, a letter is sent to GHMC. The GHMC visits the hospital once in every 4-5 days to claim the bodies," said Afzalgunj inspector G. Gnanendra Reddy.

"As far as we are concerned, there is no dearth of amenities. We have equipment and facilities including cold storage boxes that are working just fine" said mortuary resident medical officer Dr Siddique. OGH superintendent Dr G.V. Murthy refused to comment on the issue.