Relatives and friends of the deceased outside the PCMC mortuary at YCMH, on Tuesday. (Express photo by Rajesh Stephen)THE POST-MORTEM examination of five bodies were delayed for hours at the Yeshwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCMH) as the police failed to turn up for conducting the panchnama. Relatives and friends of the deceased staged a protest in front of the hospital on Tuesday.
Alleging that the post-mortems were delayed for more than seven hours, Bhagwan Mule, a relative of deceased Subhash Sonawane, said, “We came to the morgue at 8 am in the morning. But the doctors told us they could not perform the post-mortem till the police conducted the panchnama. When we went to the police chowki at the hospital, the police had not arrived. When we contacted the police, they kept saying they will arrive soon. It took more than seven hours for us to collect the body.”
Relatives of other deceased echoed similar views. They said they approached the hospital authorities, where the doctors told them they could not help until the police conducted the panchnama.
According to police, the delay happened because police personnel from Talegaon Dabhade were on duty at YCMH hospital on Tuesday. “Daily, personnel from different police stations are on duty at YCMH chowki. But they were busy with other work and could not make it on time,” said a senior police officer.
Hospital dean Dr Rajendra Wable said according to information, there was a delay of close to three hours in conducting the post-mortems. “This happened because of the unavailability of the police to conduct the panchnama, without which we cannot conduct the examination,” he added.
Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissioner R K Padmanabhan said, “Delays have become common as we facing a shortage of manpower. Most of the time, police are busy with other incidents such as road accidents. We are now reverting to the old system where every police station will take care of the panchnama of victims from their area,” he said.
