Multan: Adviser to Chief Minister of Pakistan Punjab Tariq Zaman Gujjar said a whistleblower tipped him about the rotting bodies on the roof of the mortuary at Nishtar Hospital in Multan, the media reported.
“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 the morgue and check it out,” Gujjar said, Geo News reported.
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, Geo News reported.
“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, Geo News reported.
‘Dozens’ of abandoned and desecrated bodies were found on the roof of the mortuary of Nishtar Hospital in Multan on Friday, Express Tribune reported.
The abandoned bodies on the roof were bought to light by the Advisor to the Pak Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Zaman Gujjar, after which panic spread through the hospital
Spokesperson of Nishtar Medical University Sajjad Masood issued a statement on the heartbreaking incident and claimed that strict action will be taken against those responsible for the bodies rotting “under the open sky”.
Sajjad said that various inquiry committees have been formed to probe into the matter and denied that there were “dozens” of bodies on the roof. He claimed there were only four bodies on the roof which were left to naturally dry and be used for medical students’ education, Express Tribune reported.
He added that four to five years old bodies were also used for educational purposes.
The video circulating on social media, however, showed several bodies dumped on the roof in bad conditions, resulting in rumours that the bodies were kept on the roof to be used as fodder for eagles and vultures, Express Tribune reported.
After receiving the information about the incident, Additional Chief Secretary South of Punjab Saqib Zafar formed an inquiry committee and took strict notice of the desecration and abandonment of the bodies.
The secretary of specialised healthcare has issued the notification of the formation of a six-member inquiry committee to thoroughly investigate the incident.
The committee will be headed by Additional Secretary Specialised Health Care Muzamil Bashir and was ordered to submit its report in three days.
–IANS