Pathologists performing autopsies at cemeteries in Santiago

posted on: Nov 17 2011 13:54 by The Reporter. Viewed 315 times.


Pathologists at the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF) say they have had to perform several autopsies at the cemetery in Santiago due to the fact that the morgue at the Jose Maria Cabral Regional Hospital is closed.

The morgue was apparently closed in order to undergo a series of repairs to correct damage caused by the sudden flooding brought on by the recent rains in the province.

One of the doctors that works at Inacif and who asked not to be identified, confirmed that they have been forced to carry out two autopsies in the cemeteries of Las Charcas and El Ingenio Abajo.

"They should fix up an area in the Cabral y Baez Hospital for doing autopsies and avoid these difficulties," said the doctor.

Upon being consulted on this report, the medical director of Inacif, pathologist Victor Liriano, denied that some autopsies had been done in the cemeteries of the city of Santiago.

He said that the autopsies have been done temporarily in the hospital in Navarrete, as well as in the San Vicente de Paul Hospital in San Francisco de Macoris.

However, some deceased persons taken to the Cabral y Baez Hospital have been returned to their families without an autopsy due to the lack of an ambulance to take the bodies to Navarrete.

Among these cases is that of Ismael Tineo, whose body barely reached the parking lot of the Inacif before being returned to his relatives.

The ambulance has apparently been out of action for nearly a month because the part that is needed for its repair has not been purchased.

Dr. Liriano said that the sudden flooding which happened in the morgue due to the disrepair of the hospital's drainage system also affected the storeroom and the morgue's pharmacy.

He said that the morgue will be reopened within one or two weeks if the climatic conditions permit it.

At the present time Inacif only has four pathologists who are not sufficient in number to attend the cases that are presented on a daily basis. This only increases the precariousness of the situation.

Due to the lack of ambulances, the bodies are transferred in privately-owned pickup trucks in inadequate conditions. At times they are transferred in vehicles on loan from the National Police. This type of handling and transfer of the bodies has produced complaints from families of persons who passed away, some of whose have remained on the sidewalk for as long as six hours, waiting for a vehicle to move them.