Kochi: The unidentified bodies in Kochi tell a gruesome tale. In the last six years, 395 unidentified bodies were found in Kochi, according to the statistics with the General Hospital, Ernakulam. On an average, the hospital receives 60 bodies a year and five a month. During this period Kerala, witnessed 2,224 murders across the state as per the crime statistics with the police department. The hospital hands over the bodies to private medical colleges in the state. Through this, Rs 1.49 crore was credited to the hospital account.
The hospital gives embalmed bodies for Rs 40,000 each, non-embalmed for ' 20,000 and skeleton for Rs 10,000. The data was collected by Raju Vazhakkala, an RTI activist, from Ms Shobha John, deputy superintendent with the General Hospital. "The data is alarming and the cops should launch a probe into the huge number of unidentified deaths in the city limits," Raju told DC. The hospital utilises the money as per the government orders and strictly for the expenses related to the functioning of mortuary. The unidentified bodies are kept in the government mortuary for three days and then handed over to the hospitals without post-mortem. The hospital considers the requests of the private and other hospitals in the state before handing them over, the RTI reply reveals.
