The mortuary of Panvel district hospital, has undergone a major overhaul in terms of the number of bodies that can be stored. The hospital undertook 95 lakhs worth renovation of its mortuary and has augmented its body storage capacity. From the earlier storage of 6 dead bodies, in the new set up total of 24 bodies can be stored.

“it was becoming increasingly difficult to store bodies, especially following major accidents reported on the highways. There were issues with regards to the overall cooling system. The renovation has addressed all these problems,” said an official from the hospital.

The 120 bedded hospital last year had conducted a total of 1200 post mortems. “On an average the hospital conducts 100 postmortems every month, so the requirement to augment the capacity of the mortuary was long needed,” said the official. Due to the limited mortuary capacity, additional bodies had to be transported to nearby morgues like the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s mortuary in Vashi. “the lack of facilities was time consuming for authorities and disturbing for the relatives. We intend to keep the older morgue also functional as both the facilities are situated in the basement of the hospital,” informed the official.

The renovation work which began last year concluded last month. The administration has commenced with a week-long trial of the new set up.  “almost 85 lakh worth of new equipment that includes the best of cooling units are placed wherein the temperature will be maintained at 4 degrees Celsius as against the earlier 9 degrees.  In the previous morgue there used to be complaints about odors as well but that too is now addressed. So the overall hygiene quotient will improve,” said the official.  The new system will be made operational from next week onwards.