Freezers defunct, bodies lie under fan in Ghaziabad mortuary

GHAZIABAD: None of the eight deep freezers installed in the district’s sole post-mortem house has been working for the past one year. Bodies are either kept under the fan or on ice slabs provided by relatives of the deceased.
The staff there complained they are being forced to work in such demanding conditions, which have been made worse by the hot and sultry weather. What has made the job more difficult in this heat is that the workers have to wear PPE kits while conducting autopsies.
Officials at the mortuary said they had written five-six letters to the health department over the past one year, urging the authorities to repair the freezers at the earliest. The workers fear there is a huge of risk of contracting infections as the bodies are left to decompose in the absence of any cooling mechanism. Add to that the stench these workers have to bear every day.
On an average, around 8-10 bodies come to the mortuary daily. On Saturday, autopsies of 13 bodies were conducted here while six bodies were received on Sunday. “No one would be able to work here if ice slabs are not arranged for by relatives of the deceased. Most people do not object to the conditions here. They just listen to what we say for the sake of their loved ones, whom they have lost,” said one of the workers.
Sources said the deep freezers had been bought from a company in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, through tenders that were issued from Lucknow one and a half years ago. But the machines apparently started giving troubles from the beginning itself. The Ghaziabad chief medical officer has been writing to the company since July 31 last year, asking it to replace the machines at the earliest.
“The private firm was told it had been sent several reminders in the past that the deep freezers were frequently breaking down. A copy of the letter was also given to the then district magistrate and the senior superintendent of police, besides other officials in the health department in Lucknow. An engineer had examined the machines and agreed there were problems with them. But no follow-up was done as senior officials were transferred,” the worker said.
As there is a three-year warranty on the freezers, the firm was asked to replace them if they could not be repaired. Staff at the mortuary wrote the CMO regularly, and the senior official, on his part, sent the letters to the private company.
The latest reminder was sent on March 17, but the lockdown that was imposed after that cast a cloud of uncertainty on the process again.
Asked about the problems, CMO NK Gupta agreed “the deep freezers are not working properly”. He added he had written to the health director in Lucknow as well as the company sever times.