Due to the lack of postmortem facilities at the village primary health center, bodies of victims of accidents, suicides, and other incidents from remote areas of Makawanpur have had to be taken to Kathmandu or Hetauda.
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6-year-old Yunisa Rai of Thaha Municipality-6 drowned in the Barahi River on Sunday. She was brought to the Palung Primary Health Center for treatment and died there. She had to be taken to Kathmandu for a postmortem.
The 15-bed health center has four MBBS doctors, but there is no trained manpower to perform postmortems. The deceased's father, Bikash Rai, said that he borrowed 11,000 from his neighbor to take his daughter's body to Kathmandu because the health center did not have a postmortem.
Most of the bodies of accidents, suicides, and drownings in the river in Thaha Municipality are taken to Kathmandu for postmortem. It is easier for residents of the area to go to Kathmandu than to Hetauda.
35-year-old Lakpa Bholan of Bakaiya Rural Municipality-9, Chyauchya, in Makawanpur, drowned in the river on Monday. His body was brought to Hetauda for postmortem.
There is a primary health center with a doctor in Bakaiya Rural Municipality, but there is no postmortem facility. From here, it is compulsory to bring the body to Hetauda Hospital for postmortem. Shukra Bahadur Chepang, 41, of Raksirang Rural Municipality-9, Makawanpur, who died of poisoning, was cremated without informing the nearest police post as he had to be brought to Hetauda Hospital for postmortem. When the police reached the spot, they did not inform the police as he had to be taken to Hetauda for postmortem. ‘In such incidents, if the police are informed, the body has to be taken to Hetauda. The postmortem is a financial burden on the grieving family,’ said local teacher Ramlal Thing, ‘After renting a car and conducting a postmortem, it costs more to cremate in Hetauda. This hassle has further tormented the grieving family.’
Apart from Hetauda Hospital, there is no post-mortem facility in any other health institution in the district. Even though there are doctors at the health center who have been trained and there is no other human resources and infrastructure, Raksirang Rural Municipality Chairman Rajkumar Malla says that the bodies have to be taken to Hetauda for post-mortem. ‘It is not enough to have trained doctors at the health center, there is also a need for human resources to dissect the bodies,’ he said, ‘In cases where post-mortem is required, it is a problem for the victim’s family to spend thousands to take the bodies to Hetauda.’
As health centers in the villages do not have post-mortem facilities, criminal cases are also suppressed when they do not reach the police due to cost and inconvenience, says Police Inspector Deepak Thapa of the Area Police Office Manahari.
Due to the hassle of post-mortem, some suicide cases do not reach the police, and even accurate statistics on suicide cases are not available, says DSP Pushkar Bogati, spokesperson of the Makawanpur District Police. ‘Postmortem is mandatory when information about such incidents reaches the police. It is difficult to get accurate statistics on suicide incidents if the last rites are performed secretly, considering it expensive and troublesome to take them away.’
Except for Hetauda in Makawanpur, there are primary health centers in all 9 municipalities. None of the doctors at the health centers in all 9 municipalities have received training in performing postmortems. ‘To perform postmortems, doctors must have received at least three months of training,’ said Kiran Shrestha, head of the Public Health Office, Makawanpur. ‘Although arrangements can be made to train doctors, the health post itself has to arrange the manpower to perform the autopsy,’ he said. He said that this facility has not been able to operate at the health center due to manpower shortage.
Since none of the 9 municipalities in Makawanpur have health postmortems, the pressure of postmortems at Hetauda Hospital is high. Hetauda Hospital Chief Dr. Ramchandra Sapkota said that 3 to 15 bodies are brought here daily for postmortem.
