NEW DELHI: India will soon adopt the virtual autopsy procedure which involves conducting postmortem by scanning the organs, bones and tissues instead of making an incision or dissecting the body with AIIMS, Delhi and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) jointly working on the technique that is expected to become functional in the next six months. Answering supplementaries on a question in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said India would be the first country to start
“virtual autopsy” in the south-east Asian region. Switzerland, UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, Israel, and all the Middle-East countries have already adopted the virtual autopsy procedure
The minister said virtual autopsy was both time-effective, taking 30 mins as compared to two-and-a-half hours in case of a traditional postmortem, cost effective. Besides, since the information is stored digitally, it offered the option of a review, unlike cases where cremation ruled out the possibility.