LAHORE: The Punjab police, Primary Health Care Department and Specialised Health Department have introduced biometric verification vans of the National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) which will be used to identify unattended and unidentified patients or dead bodies coming to all government hospitals as well as mortuaries across the province, local media reports have informed.
More than 450 unidentified people including women and children are found dead in different city police station areas in the provincial capital every year.
Out of them, only two to three unidentified deceased persons have been identified, while the rest are buried unidentified through Edhi Service, Ubair, Subhani Trust and other private welfare trusts in different graveyards.
Moreover, a number of unattended patients, suffering from various medical problems, road accidents or other issues, rescued by 1122 or passersby are shifted to public hospitals across the province on a daily basis. While the hospitals provide them with the treatment they need, sources said that problem is that of identifying them persists creating problems for the hospital management.
Recently, these mobile vans successfully verified two unconscious patients at Mayo Hospital. This helped in tracing their families after which the patients were handed over to their relatives.
Hospital sources said that when an unknown and unattended injured person comes to the hospital, the management informs the concerned police station of this. After taking down the details of that unidentified body, the police disappear, leaving the hospital authorities to take care of the dead person.
Sources informed that cost of the legal procedure of shifting the dead person’s body, the postmortem and then the burial is approximately between Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000.
As per the law, the police officers deputed in different stations first take a picture of the dead person, spread the word everywhere to identify the person. They also give out their picture in newspapers and other media houses. When no one claims the dead bodies, the police have to bury them.
