First clue by Forensic department, least recognition

Chennai

Government Kilpauk Medical College, which has 2 mortuaries along with the one at its attached institution Govt Royapettah Hospital, carries out close to 4,500 post mortems annually year. These include suspicious deaths, murder and burns cases, besides those ‘brought dead’.

R Selvakumar, Professor and Head of Department, Forensic Medicine, Kilpauk Medical College, says, “Post-mortem is not mere dis sections. It is a huge responsibility towards the society because the body on the table is someone’s family members, who might have died due to various causes and reasons.”

Interestingly, given the volume of the cases at the KMC, there are just about three experts. Underpaid and overworked, forensic experts are often the last refuge for the police to crack cases. There are just about 40 forensic experts with only five among them are professors across the state, while the number of government medical colleges is highest only in Tamil Nadu.

Government medical college sources said that compared to other branches of medicine like cardiology or neurology, forensics was a raw deal for practitioners. “The work is 365 days and there are no breaks -- all this at a lower pay.” sources said.

“A good part of work also involves examining victims of sexual assault, certifying the age of juvenile offenders for trial, travelling long distance to courts for presenting our reports as evidence. Yet, we don’t get our due,” added Dr Selvakumar.

Sources said that since doctors study forensics as part of their MBBS curriculum, they are expected to conduct post mortems as part of their duty, especially in the district and taluk hospitals.