Nagpur AIIMS launches online tracker for post-mortem reports

The AllIndia Institute of Medical Sciences Nagpur has come up with a unique lsquoonline postmortem report statusrsquo an innovative way to assist the police and relatives of the deceased to get status updates on the autopsy reports in a medicolegal caseThis is the first such portal set up by a forensic department in the state of Maharashtra which provides realtime tracking of postmortem report status ensuring transparency and efficiency as the data gets updated on the official portal of AIIMS hospital Nagpur which can be accessed by anyone from anywhereMoreover no special software or any design change was required to make it a reality Regular Excel content is uploaded in PDF format on the official website which is segregated monthwiseThe service has been applauded by the public police and even the forensic surgeons in Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra as the portal avoids unwanted travel to the postmortem centre from distant areas of Vidarbha region like Gadchiroli Chandrapur etc but even from neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh Telangana Chhattisgarh etc who travel to Nagpur for medical treatment or otherwiseBrain childThe concept and execution is the brainchild of Dr Manish Shrigiriwar professor amp head of the department of forensic medicine and toxicology When asked as to what inspired him to think out of the box Dr Shrigiriwar explained ldquoTwo police constables from a neighbouring state had visited the department only to inquire about the status of a particular postmortem report They travelled hundreds of kilometres only to return empty handed when they were informed that the report is not ready And such was the experience of even relatives who would travel long distancesrdquoAnd Dr PP Joshi Executive Director AIIMS Nagpur when informed about the idea as always supported and guided us to make this a reality said Dr ShrigiriwarWeekly update of dataOn average between January and March 2025 we have conducted around 55 to 75 medicolegal autopsies Also we have updated data from September 2024 onwards till December 2024 wherein on an average 30 to 50 plus autopsies have been doneldquoApart from the deceased name age and gender we have a column for concerned police station where the accidental death report ADR has been registered column for body being unknownunclaimed which is crucial as we can upload photographs for such unclaimed bodies and anyone can identify such unclaimed bodies if they visit the website There is a column that also provides details of the policeman who collected the autopsy report and their identity number so that the relatives can contact the concerned policeman at the respective police stationrdquo said Dr ShrigiriwarWhen asked about the pendency of cases the professor said ldquoWe have no pendency of cases as data gets uploaded every Saturday and the policerelatives can get the status update online PM reports are crucial for ongoing criminal trials and also for insurance claims etcrdquoldquoThough our medico legal reports and details are in typed format we still have to manually sign the final report giving the cause of death The final report along with pictures of the injury marks can be uploaded along with the pm notes which is not accessible to the common public other than the law enforcing agencies who can use the same for judicial proceedingsrdquo the professor saidReactionsldquoIt is indeed worth appreciating the efforts put in by Dr Shrigiriwar and his team as the crucial status of the autopsy report can easily be checked online and this would save crucial time and efforts of police and relatives of making rounds to the hospitalsrdquo said Dr Indrajit Khandekar professor of forensic medicine and toxicology MGIMS SevagramldquoThe new system of uploading postmortem report status online will surely be helpful to the relatives of the deceased and police a forensic surgeon from Mumbai requesting anonymityatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params