Amid delays, blame-shifting and poor coordination, unclaimed bodies at Ludhiana’s Civil Hospital mortuary wait silently for the dignity of a final farewell that the system is yet to provide.The overcrowding at the mortuary has emerged as a multifaceted challenge for the civil and police administration as well as the Health Department. With more than half its capacity exhausted, the Civil Hospital has sought intervention from senior police officials and sent repeated reminders (rukka) to the police stations concerned.Currently, 20 bodies lie in the mortuary, which has a capacity of 35. They include accident victims, unclaimed corpses recovered from deserted places, and patients who died during treatment. The situation has created not only a financial and logistical burden but also ethical dilemmas regarding dignified disposal, which requires ascertaining the religion of the deceased.The authorities must go through legal requirements for identification of bodies of unknown persons before authorising disposal.Investigations revealed that 10 of these bodies had been lying in the mortuary for 10 to 40 days, most of the old bodies being linked to the Moti Nagar police station. This is despite the rule that an unknown body can be disposed of after 72 hours if no claimant comes forward.The nodal officer at the Civil Hospital acknowledged unusual crowding of bodies at the mortuary and persistent efforts being made to facilitate disposal of the corpses.According to standard medical protocol, a body can be kept in a mortuary or funeral home for three to seven day, but with professional refrigeration near zero degree centigrade temperature, it can be preserved for longer periods with efficient embalming. In any case, decomposition starts immediately after death which can be slowed down with professional methods of refrigeration and embalming, said doctors at the Civil Hospital. According to doctors, decomposition of visceral organs beyond a certain level can also make postmortem procedure more complicated.Official take:-Police ACP Inderjit Singh Boparai said beat officers at Moti Nagar Police Station had been advised to coordinate with the authorities concerned at the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, to make arrangements for the disposal of bodies or rope in some organisation for the purpose.HealthSenior Medical Officer, Civil Hospital, Dr Akhil Sareen said that he had already written a letter to the department concerned for final rites of the unclaimed bodies lying in the hospital mortuary. “We hand over the bodies to the police,” he said.Municipal CorporationMC Commissioner Neeru Katyal Gupta, when contacted in this regard, said that the department provided funds to the police department for this purpose, but they had received no intimation in this regard. “The police need to inform us or write to us and only then we will be aware and release the funds,” she said. She further added that she would contact the Health Department and get an update.