Identifying the dead

Biometric fingerprints of unclaimed bodies in the offing

Lahore: Punjab Health Department and National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) are set to start the identification process of unclaimed dead bodies in Punjab.

The MoU draft shared by Nadra is now being reviewed by the Punjab Health Department. A few days back, the Secretary of Health Punjab Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi chaired a meeting to review the updates. Officials from the health department and Nadra also participated in the meeting.

The issue of identifying the unidentified dead bodies had been in discussion for the past several years since Dr Salman Kazmi of Mayo Hospital moved the Lahore High Court in 2020. On behalf of Dr Kazmi, senior lawyer Azhar Siddique through a petition had pleaded for directions for the Punjab government to declare mandatory the biometric verification of every unclaimed body and unknown patient.

On his plea, the Lahore High Court had directed the three institutions including Health, Nadra and Home Department [Police] to sign the MoU for biometric fingerprints of unknown and unattended dead bodies or drug addicts in 26 government district headquarters hospitals, 115 tehsil headquarters and 44 teaching hospitals of Punjab.

Even after the direction of the honourable court, the matter remained in cold storage till it came into the limelight again after dozens of unidentified dead bodies were found on the rooftop of Nishtar Medical University in Multan, a few weeks back.

The Chief Minister Punjab had also taken notice of the unfortunate handling of corpses by the hospital management and removed several health officials after an enquiry.

Earlier, as per the decades-old system, the unknown bodies were either buried in the local graveyards or sold to medical institutions for experiments after performing brief legal formalities. Since 2015, Punjab Police have found around 2,000 unidentified bodies who had died under mysterious circumstances. Those included men, women, children and newborn babies whose bodies were found in rivers, canals, drains, fields and roadsides across Punjab.

According to the official statistics, since 2015, on average, 288 corpses of unidentified people have been found in Punjab each year and 24 bodies each month. Almost half of these, around 950 of the total bodies, had been found in the provincial capital, Lahore alone.

According to Health Secretary Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi, the agreement has been prepared to ensure 100 per cent identification of dead bodies in government hospitals of Punjab.The secretary said that after the decision, biometric counters will be set up by Nadra at all government-run hospitals in Punjab. Focal persons for the implementation of the plan will also be appointed in due course.

According to Dr Qazi, the identification of abandoned bodies in government hospitals will play an important role in securing the data and providing support to the medico-legal cases.

Advocate Azhar Siddique talking to Bol News, said, “We have struggled for two years at LHC to make this happen.”

According to the lawyer, Dr Sajjad Kazmi had raised the issue of unidentified bodies which was taken up at the high court. The lawyer expressed his displeasure over the delay saying many people had been buried as unidentified at various graveyards, most of them in Shehr-e-Khamoshan over the years but nobody seemed concerned.

According to Mr Siddique, Nadra would have only charged a meagre amount of Rs200 per case for the biometric verification service but the Punjab government had wasted many years to sign the understanding.

On the other hand, the spokesman of Nadra Muhammad Faik told Bol News that Nadra would now establish an online biometric and facial recognition system at designated hospitals in Punjab.

He said Nadra would provide real-time information about any unidentified dead body to identify and reach their families, etc soon after the health department provides the fingerprints of the deceased.

“Our biometric and facial recognition system has already been used by Edhi and Chippa in Karachi for the past several years. We’re providing our services without any cost in Karachi. However, a decision about charging any fee or not for the same services from the Punjab government is under consideration.”

According to Faik, the health department would only have to pay for the purchasing cost of devices to be installed at the selected places. “It’s a noble cause and Nadra is willing to play its part for the identification of the unidentified,” he added.

To a question, the spokesman of Nadra confirmed that the process to install an online system at hospitals in Punjab had been accelerated after the Nishtar hospital’s unfortunate incident. He further said that Nadra’s desks would also be shared with Police and they would be an integral part of this project too.