Rotten bodies found on Multan's Nishtar Hospital rooftop

In an appalling incident, several unidentified and putrefied bodies were found on the roof of Nishtar Hospital, which is a teaching hospital of Nishtar Medical University in Multan.

The Punjab government has formed a six-member committee to investigate the incident after disturbing videos and pictures of rotten bodies were shared on social media. Nishtar Medical University's vice-chancellor has also formed a three-member committee for an inquiry.

A letter dated October 13, 2022 was also sent to the medical superintendent of the hospital, asking for a detailed inquiry report within three days.

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi has taken notice of the abandoned bodies and sought a report from the Punjab specialized healthcare and medical education secretary.

The Punjab CM an inhumane act has been committed by throwing these bodies on the roof and that strict disciplinary action should be taken against the responsible staff.

Former federal minister Moonis Elahi shared an update on the incident on Twitter, attaching the initial response of the head of department of Nishtar Medical University's anatomy department.

The HOD reasoned that these are the unidentified bodies handed over by the police to them for post-mortem and "if required" to be used for teaching purposes for MBBS students.

He said that these bodies were in such bad condition that they could not be used for teaching purposes as well and so after the process of complete putrefaction, the bones are retrieved for medical students. 

The HOD was clear that there is "no issue of disrespect" regarding the bodies and that after retrieval of bones, the bodies are "always" buried properly, suggesting it is a routine practice at the hospital.

According to sources, dozens of bodies are rotting in the room built on the roof of Nishtar Hospital. On the other hand, according to the news circulating on social media, hundreds of human body parts have been recovered from the roof.

No confirmation or denial has been given yet, however, by any government official over the number of bodies.

Situation at morgue

Sources in the hospital told Geo News that the majority of the freezers in the hospital's cold room — which had a capacity of 40 bodies — have been nonfunctional for many years, and only one of the five freezers is operational.

The sources said that now, only seven to eight bodies could be kept in the cold room as four freezers were not functioning, and given the hospital's situation, two rooms above the cold room are full of bodies.

They added that the bodies of unidentified people are kept in the hospital for a month and once the said time duration passes, they are sent to the laboratory.

'Whistleblower'

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 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.

What happens to unclaimed bodies?

Faheem Siddiqui, who is working as Geo News' Karachi Bureau Chief and is a senior crime reporter, said that in Karachi in between 48 hours to 72 hours, one to two bodies are brought to Karachi's government hospitals — which amount to 15-20 per month.

Siddiqui said that the police station, under whose premises the hospital falls, is responsible for the body. So, once the body is with the hospital, a representative of the government hospital then informs the police about it.

He said that then, the police starts the process under section 174 and store the body in a safe place.

In case, even then, the family of the deceased do not come to claim the body, then it is buried at the Edhi graveyard.