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As a result, it may take time to examine the dead, as remains from all over Panevėžys County are now being transported to Vilnius for examination. The Panevėžys morgue, which used to operate in the former kindergarten buildings, is now surrounded by construction barriers.
“The rebuilding of the VTMT Panevėžys branch facilities is expected to take no more than 2 years. All premises in the former kindergarten building are now owned by our service on a fiduciary basis. Here all the conditions for forensic expert activity will be adapted: autopsies (autopsy rooms), victim recognition rooms, refrigerators will be installed to contain the corpses, adequate ventilation and other equipment necessary for the expert activity will be installed, ”he said. Director of VTMT dr. Romas Raudys.
According to him, renovation of the Panevėžys morgue has been in need of a long time. However, there were still no funds for it. Finally, the state budget provided for more than 1.6 million. The project started in early August.
Only survivors remain
Five medical experts from the VTMT Panevėžys branch have been transferred to work in the city center, Savanorių square, until the renovation. Narimantas Ratkus, the former head of this department, left the service on Monday and retired.
Gintautas Serbenta, a designated expert, now acts as the director of the Panevėžys branch. It is not planned to admit more experts in this field.
“Examinations of the dead will not be carried out in Panevėžys yet. Our experts have moved to other temporary facilities and, pending renovation, medical examinations will be carried out in Panevėžys only for the living: accident victims, crimes. We will also work with documents ”, explained G. Serbenta.
He said that the forensic experts at Panevėžys still feel a bit unaware of the planned changes and the renovation itself. According to G. Serbenta, demolition works are currently underway on the building on Venslaviškio Street.
The hospital did not accept
The director of VTMT, R. Raudys, confirmed that the examinations of the dead in the territory served by the Panevėžys branch will be carried out temporarily at the VTMT Vilnius branch. Now the remains of the city of Panevėžys, the district municipalities of Panevėžys, Pasvalys, Anykščiai, Kupiškis, Biržai and Rokiškis are transported to the capital for investigation.
R. Raudys does not hide that the increase in the workload of capital experts may temporarily prolong the examination of the dead, especially in the first days of the work week. But it is hoped that it will not last that long.
“To avoid inconvenience, the Republican Panevėžys Hospital, which has adequate premises, was contacted twice for the premises for examination of the dead. However, negative responses were received, “said R. Raudys.
According to him, VTMT is now trying to negotiate that examinations of the dead during reconstruction can be carried out closer to the Panevėžys – Kėdainiai hospital. This issue should be discussed at the Kėdainiai District Municipal Council meeting in September. According to VTMT data, in 2020, 1305 casualty studies and 379 death studies were conducted at the Panevėžys branch.
The hospital has no space
According to Vytautas Riaubiškis, the communication specialist of the Republican Hospital Panevėžys, the hospital, together with other large medical institutions in the country, is participating in the project and planning the construction of a modern infectious body.
“The main mission of the Republican Panevėžys Hospital is to provide modern services of specialized personal medical care to the population, and we do not have a license that grants the right to carry out activities related to forensic examinations on the hospital premises. We are very sorry that the forensic medical service, while preparing its reconstruction project, did not coordinate in advance the issue with our hospital about the possibility of temporarily transferring some of its works to the hospital base, ”said V. Riaubiškis.
According to him, the hospital constantly carries out larger or smaller projects, but all work is organized in such a way that personal health care activities carried out in the hospital are not affected.
According to Dalius Baltušnikas, head of the Department of Pathology at the Republican Hospital Panevėžys, most of the examinations performed are pathological laboratory examinations of living patients.
“The number, nature and complexity of this type of investigation is constantly increasing. Now we are conducting examinations of this type in the department, which did not even exist 20 years ago, and the Department of Pathology of our hospital, according to their work, is it can compare with the work of similar departments in the Kaunas and Vilnius clinics, ”said D .Baltušnikas.
According to him, the Department of Pathology at the Republican Panevėžys Hospital is not exclusive: the growth in the number of histological and cytological examinations and related additional examinations is observed worldwide.
In 2020, the remodeling of the department was completed, during which the adequacy of the department’s facilities was modified. The room used for the examination of the dead, which previously occupied approximately half of the unit, is currently in a single room, which not only performs autopsies on the dead, but also performs sanitation of the dead at the request of the relatives . This room is also used for the dissection and preparation of large surgical material.
“So the occupation of the available space is complete, and we have no other capacity. In addition, according to the law, deaths from COVID – 19 and deaths from other diseases must be kept separate. We have allocated additional space to implement this requirement. We are sorry, but we do not have any more premises for forensic examinations, ”explained V. Riaubiškis.
Hygienist in sight
The Panevėžys morgue has been criticized for many years for its inadequate conditions for forensic examinations. Hygienists constantly skinned the area for failing to meet hygiene requirements and even threatened to close the door to the facility.
With the help of European Union structural funds, the exterior of the building was tidied up in 2007: the roof was repaired, plastic windows were installed, and the building’s walls were insulated and painted. But inside, conditions were still bad.
Long before, part of this building on the banks of the Nevėžis River was in private hands. There were even rumors of demolishing it and assigning this place to a park and a chapel.
In the premises of the current morgue, there was a kindergarten in the Soviet era. The construction of an educational institution has become a symbol of the brutal desecration of graves. The kindergarten was built on the site of the old city cemetery. Witnesses at the time have said that the builders were instructed not to pay attention to the bones dug out of the ground by the bulldozer. In this way, a part of the first cemeteries of the city was destroyed, where the ancestors of Panevėžys fell back forever.
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