Pune: To reduce the increasing pressure on Sassoon General Hospital, forensic cases from the jurisdictions of Hadapsar and Wanawadi police stations will now be handled by the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC).
This decision comes as Sassoon Hospital grapples with an overwhelming patient load, compounded by the growing number of forensic investigations being directed to the hospital.
Traditionally, all forensic cases from police stations across Pune were sent to Sassoon Hospital.
However, with the hospital already stretched beyond its capacity, there have been repeated requests to divert these cases to other medical facilities such as the District Hospital in Aundh, Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCM) in Pimpri-Chinchwad, and AFMC in Wanawadi.
The increased burden of forensic cases has also led to delays in the delivery of forensic reports at Sassoon.
A meeting held recently by Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar addressed the issue of redistributing forensic cases to other hospitals.
Following this, Additional Police Commissioner Shailesh Balkawade took further steps by convening a meeting and finalizing the decision to shift forensic cases from Wanawadi and Hadapsar police stations to AFMC.
A formal letter has been issued to both police stations and the respective hospitals to implement this change.
The letter from Additional Police Commissioner Balkawade authorizes AFMC to handle all forensic cases within the jurisdictions of Wanawadi and Hadapsar police stations.
This includes tasks such as autopsies, age determination, injury assessment, and competence examinations. The Maharashtra State Government's Home Department has also given formal approval for this shift, and both police stations have been instructed to comply accordingly.
According to Dr. Eknath Pawar, Dean of Sassoon General Hospital, the hospital's resources have been stretched thin by both patient care and forensic cases.
"Sassoon Hospital is currently functioning beyond its capacity, and the forensic cases have further increased our burden. We are now taking steps to redirect these cases to other hospitals, and more such arrangements will follow," Dr. Pawar said.
This move is expected to speed up the process of forensic examinations and provide some relief to Sassoon General Hospital.
