NEW PROTOCOL FOR POST-MORTEM PROCEDURE

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• The Government of India announced that it has made changes in post-mortem protocols to allow for the procedure to be conducted after sunset effective from November 15, 2021.
  
  
• The move, union health ministry said, is order to promote ease of living by reducing burden imposed due to compliance to government processes.
  
  
• Apart from friends and relatives of the deceased, this new procedure also promotes organ donation and transplant as organs can be harvested in the stipulated time window after the procedure, the union health ministry said in a statement.
  
  
• In view of the rapid advancement and improvement in technology, especially availability of required lighting and infrastructure required for post-mortem, performing night time post-mortem in hospitals is now feasible.
  
  
• The protocol stipulates that post-mortem for organ donation be taken up on priority and be conducted even after sunset at the hospitals which have the infrastructure for conducting such post-mortem on a regular basis.
  
  
• The government further said that fitness and adequacy of infrastructure etc., shall be assessed by the hospital-in-charge to ensure that there is no dilution of evidentiary value.
  
  
• It is also to be ensured by the facility that video recording of post-mortem shall be done for all post-mortem conducted in the night, to rule out any suspicion and preserved for future reference for Legal purposes.
  
  
• However, cases under categories such as homicide, suicide, rape, decomposed bodies, suspected foul play should not be subjected for post-mortem during night time unless there is a law and order situation, it said.