Punjab records between 5,000 and 6,000 deaths annually of individuals who remain unclaimed and unidentified, which translates to roughly 16 such deaths every day.The figures came to light during the launch of a statewide public identification portal, ‘Pehchaan’, for the digital identification of unidentified and unclaimed bodies in government mortuaries across the state.Punjab has become the first state in the country to launch the technological initiative.The state-level portal was formally launched by Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh here on Wednesday.Under the ‘Pehchaan’ initiative, facial photographs, permanent identification marks, including tattoos, birthmarks and deformities, along with detailed physical descriptions of every unidentified and unclaimed deceased person, will be uploaded to the portal within 48 hours of the postmortem at any government mortuary in Punjab.The portal is publicly accessible free of charge through all official websites of the Health Department and can be searched by families from anywhere in India or abroad.Once a claimant submits an online claim, the concerned investigating officer is automatically notified to proceed with formal identification under competent legal authority, without requiring families to visit mortuaries or police stations.Describing the initiative as a moral and civilisational commitment, Dr Balbir Singh said, “Every year, approximately 5,000 to 6,000 human beings die as unknown and unclaimed in Punjab alone.”“They were someone’s son, daughter, spouse, or parent, and somewhere a family is still waiting for them. In our tradition, every soul is equal, and dignity is non-negotiable,” said Dr Balbir Singh.He added, “No person, no matter how poor or migrant, will be denied the dignity of being found. The dignity of the dead is as much our responsibility as the health of the living, and Pehchaan ensures every family gets that crucial closure.”The Health Minister noted that the portal is built on the foundation of Punjab’s digital medico-legal software ‘MedLEaPR’, an NIC-built system developed following directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.Currently operational across all 23 districts and 346 government hospitals in the state, with more than 6,600 registered medical officers, MedLEaPR has recorded more than 12 lakh medico-legal and postmortem cases, with a 99.6 per cent timely report-freezing compliance rate.Dr Balbir Singh further highlighted that MedLEaPR connects the police, courts, health institutions and nine forensic science laboratories—including AIIMS Bathinda—while maintaining active integration with the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) for cross-matching missing-person records.