Goa: Body missing from morgue, Health Minister orders probe

Three people have been suspended and criminal action has been initiated against them after the body of a 24-year-old boy went missing from the Goa Medical College (GMC) morgue.

Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane ordered a high-level inquiry into the matter and urged the State Health Ministry to submit a report within eight days.

"It is indeed a serious incident in which the body of the 24-year-old boy was disposed off as an unclaimed body. The family members of the boy couldn't retrieve the body of the boy when they arrived at the hospital. Such a lapse cannot be excused. We have ordered an inquiry into the incident against those who were involved in such a mishap. We also lodged an FIR against the doctor and staff involved. The doctor should be sent to jail," Rane told ANI.

"Dr Edumundo Rodrigues, the Head of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology of Goa Medical College and Hospital, has been suspended as it is a crime to dispose off someone else's body. This insensitive doctor has maligned the reputation of the Goa Health Ministry. The Undersecretary of the Health Ministry will do the inquiry and submit the report within 8 days. I have sent him an email as well to suspend the head of the Anatomy department," Rane added.

However, spokesperson of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee, Urfan Mulla, demanded the removal of the health minister and a thorough probe into the issue.

"An incident of such kind has never happened in Goa. There is no bigger grief for a family when they cannot claim the body of their son, who was just 24 years old. The Health Minister of Goa should take every responsibility and step down from his position. As long as the family is not getting due justice, the Congress party will stand by them through thick and thin. Rane is playing with the sentiments of the dead and their family," he alleged.