GOMES It is commonplace for one pathologist to conduct up to 11 post-mortems per day at the Government Forensic Pathology Facility at the Spanish Town Hospital in St. Catherine, said Dr. Carolyn Gomes, executive director of the activist organisation, Jamaicans For Justice.
Dr. Gomes, who has often spoken against the condition of forensic pathology at the unit, noted that the caseload of the specialists has more than once been documented and reported to the Government.
"Based on observation we have seen incidents where they have scheduled up to 11 post-mortems per day. Regularly there are about nine post-mortems daily at the facility," said Dr. Gomes.
Heavy workload
Currently, there are about five government forensic pathologists, but the Medical Association of Jamaica says the ideal number to deal with the high workload should be 12 to 15, with a caseload of three cases per week. The MAJ noted that there are some 1,500 murders annually as well as numerous suicides and traffic accidents.
A former government pathologist, who requested anonymity, said one of the main reasons he left Jamaica was because no one wanted to hear or listen to the truth about the deficiencies of the forensic department.
"For one, the workload is too heavy for the number of pathologists in the department, and that's one of the reasons the autopsies are not properly done," he said.
The pathologist, who worked in the country for more than five years, added: "There are inadequate and outdated equipment to work with at the facility."
Substandard facility
Dr. Gomes, lamenting that the Spanish Town-based facility is outdated and below international standards, claimed there was no refrigeration there and bodies are sometimes piled on top of each other to defrost and leak.
It was at this same facility that government pathologist Dr. Ere Seshaiah conducted a post-mortem on the body of Pakistan cricket coach, Bob Woolmer. His murder findings were overturned by three foreign pathologists who concluded that the 58-year-old coach died of natural causes.
