OIJ authorities have expressed deep concern over the alarming situation in the morgue, where bodies of homicide victims and those involved in traffic accidents are reportedly stacked on top of each other on stretchers and even on the floor.
The issue is attributed to the escalating wave of homicides, as disclosed by the investigating agents. In response to this crisis, seventeen directors of the organization have penned a letter to the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Orlando Aguirre Gómez, and the General Director of the Judicial Police, Rándall Zúñiga López, bringing attention to the critical situation.
The letter not only addresses the stacking of corpses but also highlights the challenging conditions faced by the staff of the Forensic Pathology Section.
“Due to the high demand for deceased individuals in the country, we often find ourselves placing two to three corpses on the same stretcher. This is a result of inadequate space in the refrigeration chamber and insufficient stretchers. In extreme cases, bodies have been stacked one on top of the other on the floor of the chamber,” the letter stated.
It further revealed the intricate and time-consuming nature of the autopsies, with the staff occasionally having to remove up to 20 bullets from a single body, leading to autopsy durations of up to 7 hours.
The working conditions outlined in the letter point to long hours, inadequate staffing, and an overwhelming caseload, with the staff sometimes conducting one to four autopsies in a single day, a workload exceeding the recommended capacity of two autopsies per day for doctors. The cumulative effect of these conditions has taken a toll on the staff’s psychological well-being.
The letter emphasized the lack of psychological and occupational health support for the staff, who, despite the challenging circumstances, are left to cope with the emotional impact of their daily work without appropriate care.
