Miseries of the destitute 

Most unidentified dead bodies are of drug addicts, homeless people

Lahore: Since the start of 2022, around 2,200 corpses have been brought to the three mortuaries of the city out of which the majority have been identified as drug addicts and homeless people.

Some 1,400 bodies were brought to the Mayo Hospital, while 650 were taken to the Jinnah Hospital and around 100 have been shifted to the Lahore General Hospital this year so far.

While talking to Bol News, the Registrar of King Edward Medical University, Dr Riasat Mahmood said the tally of such corpses increases during the peak times of winter and summer seasons as the majority of the drug addicts and homeless people cannot bear the severities of the weather.

He apprised that majority of the dead bodies are brought to the Mayo Hospital as it has, besides the largest mortuary in the city, several local police stations located in its vicinity. “There are many shrines, famous parks, lorry adda (bus station), fruit and cattle markets, etc near the hospital so the number of cases relating to accidents, etc are brought to the facility”.

photos: Mohsin Raza/Bol News

He also apprised that three types of corpses are brought to the hospital’s mortuary including identified bodies, unidentified bodies and bodies for preservation. “We do preserve bodies on the request of deceased’s relatives as sometimes they wait for their loved ones who are based abroad and need time to reach here for the funeral”.

The department of Forensic Medicine charges Rs 800 per day to preserve each body. According to Dr Riasat, sometimes the bodies remain at the mortuary for months and even years until the police complete the legal formalities. “This happens in cases relating to unidentified bodies and mostly in the case of the corpses of foreigners. Sometimes, the foreign missions and embassies take a lot of time to complete the formalities particularly if the deceased hail from the African countries”, furthermore he informed. Usually, he said, the Police complete the entire legal process in 15 days, but in some cases takes a lot more time due to various reasons.

He also said that the police bring every corpse to the mortuary where postmortem and other legal formalities are carried out before handing over the corpse to their loved ones. He said sometimes families do not permit a postmortem, but the postmortem of every unidentified body is carried out to determine the cause of death. “The police are the custodian of the dead bodies and we hand over them to the authority along with respective reports. No individual can take the corpse along on his own”.

photos: Mohsin Raza/Bol News

Responding to a query, the registrar said the mortuary section does not have the authority to give the corpses to the medical colleges for experiments as being its custodian, however, the police have the authority to do so, he added. “The police hand over the unclaimed dead bodies, after performing legal formalities, to the Anatomy Department of the Mayo College which further transports them to various medical colleges as per requests.

“The principals of medical colleges send in requests to our vice-chancellor (VC) for the corpses regarding medical procedures. The VC then forwards the requests to the Anatomy Department for further processing. The entire process takes place with the prior approval of the law enforcers”, Riasat Mahmood told this scribe.

According to the official, since the government has adopted a process for the verification of unidentified dead bodies with the help of NADRA, the influx of corpses at the mortuaries has increased.

photos: Mohsin Raza/Bol News

As the winter season gets fierce day by day in the country, so do the adversaries of drug addicts and homeless people. Extreme conditions generally take a heavy toll on the destitute who often remain at the mercy of the weather.

In Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan, countless drug addicts and homeless people are seen ‘sleeping’ on the footpaths or sides of the roads around the famous shrines here. Besides, many are also seen lying on the walkways under the open sky around the lorry adda and the Greater Iqbal Park. As per the official statistics, the majority of the unidentified corpses brought to the mortuaries of Lahore, are of drug addicts and homeless people in a city which is inhabited by more than 11 million people.