A dispute broke out late Thursday night—around 10:30 PM—between the police and the doctor on emergency duty regarding arrangements for storing a body at the Moga Government Hospital morgue.
It is reported that the morgue’s deep freezers have been out of order for approximately three weeks. The morgue has a capacity to hold about eight bodies at a time. Consequently, the combination of malfunctioning freezers and a lack of storage space led to a heated exchange between the police and the doctor on Thursday night.
According to reports, the police arrived at the Moga Government Hospital late Thursday night with a body and requested that it be kept safely in the hospital morgue.
The doctor on emergency duty stated that there was no space available in the morgue. The doctor provided a written note advising the police to take the body to the morgue in Faridkot or the one located in the village of Singhawala, Moga. The police objected to this suggestion and insisted that the body be kept at the Moga Government Hospital morgue itself. This disagreement sparked an argument between the two parties.
The situation quickly escalated, creating a tense atmosphere within the hospital premises late at night. Upon learning of the dispute, other hospital staff and police officials arrived at the scene and attempted to defuse the situation by speaking with both parties. Deep freezers out of order for three weeks:
Deep freezers are installed in the hospital morgue to safely store bodies; however, it is reported that these units have been malfunctioning for about three weeks.
The morgue’s total capacity is said to be around eight bodies. The freezer malfunction is causing difficulties for the hospital administration in safely storing bodies.
According to hospital sources, bodies are normally kept in the morgue following a prescribed procedure. The police preserve unidentified bodies until all legal formalities—including identification and post-mortem examinations—are completed.
If space is unavailable in the morgue, alternative arrangements must be made to store the bodies. A dispute arose between the police and the medical staff on Thursday night regarding this very issue.
**Malfunctioning Freezers Could Exacerbate Problems**
The fact that the morgue’s deep freezers have been out of order for a long time could create further difficulties for the hospital administration in the near future. Preserving bodies safely could become a challenge, especially if a large number of bodies arrive simultaneously. Consequently, the hospital administration needs to either have the faulty freezers repaired promptly or make alternative arrangements.
Currently, both the police and the hospital administration are gathering details regarding the dispute that occurred late Thursday night. The body was ultimately kept at Singhawala, and the hospital administration has yet to clarify when the morgue’s malfunctioning deep freezers will be repaired.
