JORHAT, Feb 2 - The death of an elderly male British tourist inside a tourist luxury Brahmaputra cruise boat at Neematighat on the outskirts here on Friday has brought to light the non-functioning of the cooler unit of the Jorhat Medical College and Hospital since a long period of time following which there has been difficulty in preserving the body.
It may be mentioned here that Alastair Neil Macdonald (81) was found dead on a boat named Charaideo II that was on a cruise on the Brahmaputra from Guwahati to upper Assam tourist spots along the river.
Subsequently, his body was brought by police to the JMCH and doctors confirmed his death. Thereafter, post mortem was done on the body later in the day as per the official procedure after which embalming was done by the Forensic Science department doctors to retard the process of decomposition of the body.
A JMCH source stated that in view of the cooling unit having four chambers to keep four bodies in the JMCH morgue being out of order, a major problem has cropped up to preserve the body. The JMCH authorities informed the administration about the difficulty in keeping the body in a good condition due to non-functioning of the cooling unit.
The source pointed out that since about past three years the cooing unit has been out of order and though a few times the snag had been fixed, the unit after functioning for a few days used to develop technical defects. The higher authorities of Health Department have been intimated about the problem but nothing has happened, the source said.
JMCH Professor Atul Baro, when contacted told The Assam Tribune that the district administration after being intimated of the problem, arranged a portable cooling unit from a cremation ground here and the body of the tourist was kept there as a temporary measure.
Baro said that the JMCH authorities had sometime back submitted a proposal to the Health department for procuring a new cooling unit for the morgue having separate cooling machines for each of the four chambers. The Government approval for the same was expected soon, the JMCH Principal informed.
Bipul Das, Jorhat Sub-Divisional Officer (Sadar), who is coordinating with the JMCH over the matter, said the administration had arranged a portable cooling unit by borrowing it from Tarajan Cremation Ground as a temporary measure to preserve the body.
Das said that the district administration had intimated Dispur about the death of the British tourist and about the problem faced due to non-functioning of the cooler of the JMCH morgue.
He said that the State Government was taking up the matter with the Central Government to get in touch with the British High Commission for necessary action for dealing with the body.
However, a JMCH source said that after 72 hours of death, there will be difficulty in preserving the body in a proper condition.
