• Seek intervention of DSs, GNs, Social Services Dept.

The Police Media Spokesman, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nihal Thalduwa yesterday (11) stated that all the relevant Police stations have been informed to deal with the unclaimed bodies piled up at the Colombo South Teaching Hospital in Kalubowila as soon as possible.

He said this when he was contacted by The Daily Morning to inquire about the steps taken by the Police regarding the fact that the administration of the said Hospital has decided not to accept any unclaimed dead bodies until the piled up corpses are cleared.

“The SSP who is in charge of the Mount Lavinia Division had given notice to the relevant Police stations to immediately investigate the cases related to the dead bodies and to take necessary measures, in particular to find out about the issues such as how far the investigations have been carried out on these dead bodies and whether it is possible to find out the related facts or not. The officials have been given instructions and accordingly, some decision can be reached. However, it can be stated that the Police has started work on this matter,” he said.

He further said that this task is not a matter related only to the Police and that it therefore requires the cooperation of many other parties. “Even though the Hospital management has accused the Police, this is not something that we can do alone. Reports should be submitted to the Court regarding these dead bodies. Then, the Court should be satisfied with them. Not only that, the Police cannot do the burial of these dead bodies as it requires a lot of money which is being spent by the Government for which the Government needs to bear the cost. The support of the Divisional Secretaries (DSs) and the Grama Niladharis (GNs) is needed. The Social Services Department should intervene in this. The Police only has the responsibility of conducting investigations properly,” he said.

Recently, the administration of the said Hospital had decided to temporarily halt the acceptance of unidentified corpses or those which have no claimant. The decision had been taken owing to the fact that 28 of the 36 freezers facilitated for the keeping of bodies in the Hospital’s mortuary have been occupied by unclaimed corpses for the past year and two months. The administration identified that the main reason for the pile up of such bodies is the fact that the Police does not conduct the required post-mortem examinations.