The Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay (PDU) Medical College in Gujarat has announced that it will carry out post-mortem examination of the bodies of those who have died of the novel coronavirus to discern how it causes the deaths.

The researchers believe that this will help in the effective treatment of patients suffering from the virus, Indian Express reported. The state government has said in an official release that the medical college has already started analysing biological changes that the infection causes in the body.

A team of researchers led by Hetal Kyada, the head of the forensic medicine department and additional superintendent of the dedicated Covid-19 hospital set up on the campus, will perform autopsies on the people who succumbed to COVID-19.

Gauravi Dhruv, dean of PDU medical college, told media that the study will focus on the mechanisms that coronavirus triggers and the causes of death. Dhruv reportedly added that it could be the clotting of the blood, inflammation, or any other condition and if we come to know “the causes of death, then we can find out ways to prevent it.”.

The research team has prepared a special mortuary, taking all precautions. “The disease being highly infectious, the researchers will follow all the infection control measures,” the dean added.

According to Kyada, “This being a research project, we will require the permission of the next of the kin of the victim for autopsy. We shall sanitise the body, cover it, and also sanitise the cover and then last rites will be performed.”

Kyada added that these would be pathological autopsies and not medico-legal post-mortems. He mentioned that the state government would monitor and guide the research.

Meanwhile, Gujarat recorded 1,330 new COVID-19 cases on Monday. The tally now stands at 1,05,671. The number of deaths stands at 3,123 as 15 more patients died of the infection on Monday, according to data from the health ministry.

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