Dockyard Road building collapse: JJ Hosp conducts 'external' post-mortem on victims

Following the collapse of a building in Dockyard Road area on Friday morning,  the JJ Hospital for the first time in the country conducted  ‘external post-mortem’ and handed over as many as 31 bodies to the concerned families within 24 hours. This ensured that the families, relatives and friends did not have to wait for the mortal remains of their loved ones.

Explaining the procedure, Dr TP Lahane, dean of the JJ Hospital, told dna that it is a process in which the doctors perform post-mortem on the deceased only externally. “In such cases, where the cause of death is already known, there is no need for the doctors to carry out a detailed autopsy by cutting the body and examining the internal organs,” Lahane said.

He added that the doctors are asked only to examine the body and note down the places where there are injury marks, wounds, fracture and bleeding. “If the doctors feel there is a need to take X-rays then they do that,” Lahane said, adding that “most importantly we take photographs of the dead body from various angles and make a detailed registry”.

By this procedure the time taken for one post-mortem has come down drastically to 15 minutes as compared to one-hour per dead body earlier. “We also took the police into confidence and explained them the procedure. So that they can also make their documents and case-papers accordingly,” Lahane said.

The enormity of the problem was first highlighted during the 26/11 terror attacks.

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