Chennai: Far away from the moaning and groaning patients mortuary workers of a government hospital in Chennai’s suburb work diligently. No matter how many corpses they receive per day or how bruised or how gory the cadaver, they are always ready for work, even if it is in the wee hours of the day. Truly, they are the unsung heroes.
“Our work starts as early as 7 am and gets over at 6 pm. It does not mean that our duty ends as the clock strikes six, it goes on. We begin with collecting the bio-medical waste, including urine bags from the wards in the hospital, segregate them and load them for disposal,” said Raju*, who has been working with a government hospital in the suburbs for over three decades.
“We have been here for night duty as well. Time does not matter. It would be 2 am, the police would arrive with corpses, leave immediately, asking us to store them,” he adds.
On an average, the hospital receives about eight corpses, as it is in one of the prime locations that connects neighbouring cities and towns.
Following the garbage disposal, they go to their regular duty – post-mortem – of cadavers. “Cops transport the body from the accident spot to the hospital, hand it over to us and we take the tokens. Once the direction to perform autopsy is received, the duty doctor inspects the body. He sees if the body is frozen, checks the injuries, identification marks and clothes. Once he gives the nod, we go ahead with dissection,” adds Selvam*, another worker.
In accident cases, the worker states that it is their responsibility to measure the scars and fractures and report. ‘We then cut open the corpse under the doctor’s supervision and inspect if the internal organs are damaged,’ Raju explained.
Sharing one about a drowning case, he said, “The person had committed suicide by drowning. When the body was brought here, we squeezed his lungs and fluid started flowing like water. His organs and the water from the place where he fell were collected and handed over to the police for further verification.”
In case of poison and suicide cases, the chemical and marks are checked. Their body would be inspected totally and then autopsy conducted.
Asked about his fears, Raju chided, ‘Of course, it was scary in the beginning, not now,’ but laughed heartily. “Now,” he says “the corpses fear us”.
“Although we were afraid, we do not consume alcohol,” Raju claimed.
But he shows a soft side by saying, “It pains us when we are asked to cut open the bodies of children. They are too young to die,” Raju shakes his head.
“I did not have any choice but to work here. While recruiting, the officials will ask us if we will do any work. We agree and sign up for it. Thirty-two years have flown by and we will be retiring in eight months,” he said.
* Names changed on request