Hazaribagh, Dec. 9: Hazaribagh sadar hospital seems to have reached the dead end of brotherly patience as far as doctors performing autopsies on bodies from Ramgarh goes.

Ramgarh, a new district, sends around 15 bodies for autopsies in a month since its own promised facility is yet to be in place. But, Hazaribagh says doctors at its sadar hospital are over-worked and in no position to help out.

Matters came to a head in October when civil surgeon Vinay Kumar wrote to his Ramgarh counterpart Abhay Prakash that it was not possible for their “overworked doctors” to perform autopsies on corpses from the new district.

Though Prakash, in his reply, asked for more time, citing it was the “moral duty of big brother to support the younger”, Kumar seems unburdened with any such brotherly feeling.

Formerly a subdivision of Hazaribagh, Ramgarh was upgraded to a district on September 12, 2007. From then onwards, it was supposed to be self-sufficient in all matters, including post-mortems.

But though a massive infrastructure hub, including a sadar hospital and mortuary, is coming up on a 145-acre plot in Kothar, 2km from Ramgarh town, delays ensured that the five-year-old district is completely at the mercy of Big Brother Hazaribagh regarding post-mortems.

According to records, Ramgarh sends 15 bodies every month to Hazaribagh sadar hospital for autopsies. In addition, Kumar added they got no less than two or three bodies for autopsy every day in Hazaribagh.

“Performing autopsy, a highly technical job, on so many bodies increases workload of doctors. We have to perform autopsies on bodies that we receive from our district and Ramgarh. What’s Ramgarh doing after its formation? It’s almost five years that Ramgarh subdivision was upgraded as a district. They had enough time to develop their own infrastructure. If they failed, why should we suffer?” he told The Telegraph.

He also flatly added it wasn’t their problem.

Kumar added he was willing to throw in a sweetener by offering to train Ramgarh doctors on how to conduct post-mortems.

That wasn’t the problem, according to Ramgarh civil surgeon Prakash.

“We don’t need training,” Prakash said. “At present, Ramgarh sadar hospital is working out of the old sub-divisional office near Bijulia on Ranchi-Patna highway (NH-33). We lack a mortuary. Where do we perform autopsies, on the road?” he asked.

He added that work on the construction of government offices, official quarters, parks, sadar hospital in Kothar was going on at a war footing. “We should get our mortuary by March. Will Hazaribagh, as Big Brother, shut its door on us?” he asked.

But what this row has done is given Ramgarh a reality check.

Its administrative infrastructure has taken too much time to get off the ground. Kothar apart, a jail is still coming up on New Chaha area. Loknayak Jai Prakash Narayan Central Jail still houses Ramgarh prisoners. Its judiciary also works out of Hazaribagh.

Civil surgeon Kumar has an alternative. “Ramgarh should send bodies to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi, 25km from Ramgarh, instead of 56km to Hazaribagh,” he suggested.

But sources said it wasn’t that easy because Ramgarh was carved out from Hazaribagh district and not Ranchi.