Body abandonment on Pakistan Hospital roof: Punjab govt orders inquiry

Pakistani medical experts have described the incident as “inhumane, unethical and a violation of SOPs”.

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi also took notice of the matter and sought a report from the healthcare secretary, reports Dawn News.

He said it was inhumane to throw bodies on the roof of the hospital, and strict disciplinary action should be taken against the responsible staff.

The Nishtar Medical University’s vice chancellor has constituted a three-member committee to investigate the matter.

The committee members include Basic Sciences Dean Dr Abbas, associate professor Dr Ghulam Mustafa and campus in-charge Dr Tariq Saeed.

Multan City Police Officer (CPO) Khurrum Shehzad Haider told Dawn the police submitted bodies to the mortuary under Section 174 of the PPC, adding they also advertised unclaimed bodies in newspapers for identification. These were handed over to their heirs after completing legal formalities.

He further explained the police received two types of bodies — those related to a crime or those that died of natural causes. “Police get a postmortem examination done on the bodies with injuries, while those that died of medical complications are submitted to the mortuary without a postmortem,” he added.

Haider said currently the mortuary housed 74 bodies, including putrefied ones. “I found out that since putrefied bodies cannot be frozen, these are placed in a caged enclosure, but definitely not under the sun,” he said.