Bodies pile up
BODIES continued to pile up yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, as the only pathologist on duty – Dr Valery Alexandrov – continued protest action by refusing to conduct autopsies. Alexandrov began protest action on Tuesday saying he could no longer perform upwards of eight to ten autopsies a day by himself with little or no support staff.
On Tuesday, 12 bodies were brought in for autopsies following a murder-filled extended Emancipation Day weekend. No autopsy was done on Tuesday.
Added to the list of 12 bodies as the Forensic were three more bodies being brought in – a man who was murdered, another who was found dead at home and a third who was shot dead during a shoot-out with police, making for at least 15 corpses now at the Centre awaiting autopsy.
Yesterday, dozens of persons turned up at the Centre in Federation Park hoping autopsies could be done on their deceased loved ones. They left empty- handed. Staffers at the Centre have thrown their weight firmly behind Dr Alexandrov who is believed to be the first pathologist in the entire Commonwealth to go on a public strike by withholding his services, over adverse working conditions.
“We are not refusing to work, we just need help,” said Dr Alexandrov in a phone conversation with Newsday. “I understand the bureaucratic process and I understand that things would not change overnight. But we need a guarantee that this problem would be solved soon, so at least we can see light at the end of the tunnel,” he added.
Alexandrov said that although the pile-up of bodies is alarming, non-prosecution cases such as suspected suicides and sudden and natural deaths, would be sent to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for autopsies to be conducted by house officers in the mortuary department of that hospital.
Alexandrov said that the situation is quickly deteriorating. He said that in July, he worked for 20 days that month and performed 79 autopsies. Of those, 38 were autopsies done to assist in homicide investigations.
“If anyone can explain to me what is going on, I would really like to know, because this workload is way beyond anything that anyone, even a forensic pathologist can endure,” Alexandrov said.
At present, he is the only Forensic Pathologist on duty with fellow pathologist Dr Eastlyn McDonald Burris out on vacation and Dr Hughvon des Vignes no longer contracted by Government.
Sad.
But the only “good” part is that the deceased don’t know which clock a strike.
Wow.
Doc is clearly inundated with work and needs well deserved assistance.