Navi Mumbai: Thepiling up of unclaimed bodies crossed the mortuary capacity limit again in November at the sub-district hospital (SDH)-Panvel. Currently, 26 bodies are stored against the capacity of 24. In October this year, the highest-ever 52 unclaimed bodies were stored, which included two bodies brought by the Kharghar police in 2024.The SDH began declining to receive more bodies after being alerted by PWD over a rise in freezer temperature. Further, bodies sent to govt-run Indira Gandhi Rural Hospital (IGRH)-Uran led to excess storage in October and November, with seven bodies stored against the capacity of four in Oct.The unclaimed bodies are brought to the SDH from across the police stations under Panvel taluka. They are supposed to be stored for seven days and be disposed of by completing the procedural formalities like post-mortem.The medical superintendent of SDH-Panvel, Dr Shivaji Patil, said, “Police did not return to take back the bodies for disposal after 7 days. This has resulted in a pile-up of bodies at the mortuary. The PWD inspector sent us a warning letter in August after recording a rise in temperature in the mortuary. Accordingly, the ACPs and police stations were alerted.”“We stopped accepting more bodies from Oct and 4-5 bodies including a murdered person were sent to IGRH-Uran. Police faced inconvenience in searching for mortuary space at hospitals. It also came to our notice that the body of a murdered person and an accidental victim brought by the Kharghar police has been lying in the mortuary since 2024.” he added. The SDH-Panvel has a storage capacity for 16 fresh and eight decomposed bodies, whereas the IGRH-Uran has four cabinets for four bodies.
