Daily Times

Multiple committees were formed Friday to investigate the matter of bodies discovered on the Nishtar Medical University’s rooftop. A six-member committee has been formed by the Punjab government, while the University’s vice-chancellor has also formed a three-member committee for an inquiry into the incident. Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Elahi took notice of the matter and has sought a report from the provincial secretary for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education department. CM Punjab said that an inhumane act has been committed by throwing dead bodies on the rooftop. He has ordered strict disciplinary action to be taken against the staff members responsible for doing so. South Punjab’s secretary of health has formed a six-member committee to probe into the incident, which will submit its report to the secretary in three days. Meanwhile, the three-member committee formed by the university’s VC will also present its findings and relevant information to him via a report. PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi also took to Twitter to inform about the launch of an inquiry into the incident.

The action was taken after videos and pictures of the incident surfaced on the internet. Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab Tariq Zaman Gujjar said a whistleblower tipped him about the rotting bodies on the roof of the mortuary at Nishtar Hospital. “I was on a visit in Nishtar Hospital when a man approached me and said if you want to do a good deed then go to the morgue and check it out,” Gujjar said. He said when he reached there the staff wasn’t ready to open the doors of the mortuary. “To this, I said if you don’t open it right now, I am going to file an FIR against you,” Gujjar added.

He said when the morgue was finally opened and they stepped in only to find at least 200 bodies lying around. “All the decomposing bodies [of both men and women] were bare. Even women’s bodies weren’t covered.” Gujjar said he asked them (doctors) to explain what was going on they said these were used by the medical students for educational purposes. “Do you sell these bodies? I asked the mortuary authorities.”

Gujjar said he asked doctors to explain the incident and in response, they said it was not what it looked like as these were used by the medical students for educational purposes. “Two of the bodies on the roof were rather in the early stages of decomposition. Maggots were all over them,” Gujjar said.

He said he had never seen anything like that in his 50 years of life. “Vultures and worms were scavenging on the corpses on the roof. Our tally showed there were at least 35 bodies on the rooftop of the mortuary.”

“The bodies after being used for medical education purposes should have been given a proper burial after Namaz-e-Janaza, but they were thrown on the roof,” Gujjar said.

Meanwhile, Nishtar Medical University (NMU) Head of Anatomy Department, Dr Mariam Ashraf on Friday said that the impression about 500-5.000 dead bodies are being kept on the hospital’s rooftop is wrong.

Professor Dr Mariam Ashraf said that such bodies which are being kept by the police in Nishtar Hospital, are abandoned and unidentifiable are kept on the rooftop instead of the morgue due to the process of decomposition. The Punjab Home Department and Punjab Health Department are fully aware of this process, she added.