India notifies first national mortuary standards under Clinical Establishments Act

Key facts

• The National Council for Clinical Establishments under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) finalized India's first national minimum standards for mortuary and post-mortem infrastructure.
• The standards mandate dead-body cold storage at 4°C to 8°C with a minimum capacity of four bodies.
• Mortuaries must be located on the ground floor and are barred from basements and areas near hospital waste disposal sites.
• Medico-legal case (MLC) bodies must be kept separate from non-MLC remains, with each body assigned a unique serial number for traceability.
• A mortuary handling up to 100 autopsies per year must have two registered medical practitioners, two post-mortem technicians, and two post-mortem assistants.
• The standards apply to public and private hospitals in states and Union territories that have adopted the Clinical Establishments Act.
• The framework requires compliance with the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2018, and a mercury-free working environment.