Department of Forensic Medicine

Apart from regular post-mortem examination:

• Sexual offence examination of accused (potency and age) and victim (age)
• Expert opinions for the post-mortems done at periphery centres are given on requisition from the magistrate and investigating officers
• Exhumations and spot post-mortems are done by the medical fraternity of this department
• Blood sample collection for blood grouping and Rh typing
• Blood sample collection for DNA analysis by FTA cards in cases of paternity disputes
• Opinion with regard to drugs and substance abuse, which facilitates custody under the Goondas Act

Classes for medicos of Second M.B.B.S. and Third M.B.B.S. (Regular and Intermediate) are regularly conducted on two days of a week – Wednesday and Saturday. One of the two days is allotted to a practical session, in which students are also taken to the mortuary to watch post-mortems and attend practical classes related to medico-legal documentation.

Regular symposiums, seminars, internal assessments and viva are conducted to train future doctors in medico-legal work. Students are taken to court to get exposure to observing evidence given by experts.

Regular seminar presentations of postgraduates within the department, weekly case discussion and journal club meetings, and monthly clinical society meeting presentations are also carried out.

• Medico-legal classes for Medical Officers all over the district under Tamil Nadu Accident and Emergency Care Initiative (TAEI)
• Training for newly joined Judicial Officials by our faculties
• Training classes for newly joined Police Personnel are conducted regularly in police training institutes

MBBS students are divided into 10 groups, and each group is assigned to prepare charts and models about important topics in forensic medicine, which are displayed in the department museum.

4 teams with 2 students in each team participated in the inter-medical college Forensic Medicine Quiz Competition conducted by Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College. Our students fared well, with 1 team reaching the final of the competition.

On 23rd July 2022, a CME on Medicolegal Updates was conducted, where nearly 300 participants comprising undergraduates and postgraduates, teaching faculties from various institutions from all over the state, police and judicial officials attended.

Various topics like medico-legal documentation, examination of sexual offence cases (accused and victims), and chain of custody, etc. were discussed.

The CME was inaugurated by the Superintendent of Police, Salem District, in the presence of our Dean, Prof. Dr. Valli Sathyamoorthy, MD., DA.,

• More than 100 specimens of medico-legal importance are preserved and mounted in jars with relevant labelling
• Enlarged photographs of forensic importance are prepared as charts and kept for students
• Topics of medico-legal significance are enlarged and laminated for easy learning by students
• Wet specimens of various types of snakes are mounted and displayed with proper labelling
• Dummy, shotguns with cartridges, rifle weapons with bullets, and other commonly used weapons
• New pathological specimens of medico-legal importance are collected and displayed

CRMIs are posted on a rotation basis for a period of 7 days from the clinical postings. During this period, they are instructed to assist in all regular medico-legal work, like post-mortem examination, sexual offence examination, age estimation, and preparing the certificates for the above work.

Important topics are given as regular presentations for posted CRMIs and discussed. The marks for log books are based on their involvement in cases, presentation, knowledge and learning skills.

Many exhumations have been conducted in and around Salem in the past years, on the request of the concerned Tahsildars.

Spot post-mortems were conducted on these cases, with videography done throughout the procedure. Spot post-mortems are done even in remote hilly areas in and around the district by our forensic faculties.

Newly constructed mortuary as per NMC norms, with an area of 400 sq. m. The mortuary has cold storage facility for 24 dead bodies at a time. The spacious dissection hall is well lit with natural light.

Professor Dr. K. Gokula Ramanan, M.D.,

Retrospective Autopsy Analysis on Pattern of Fatal Cases of Poisoning — Gokula Ramanan Kandasamy, Karthick Ramasamy; Med Pulse International Journal of Forensic Medicine, Print ISSN: 2579-0935, Online ISSN: 2636-4735, Volume 9, Issue 2, February 2019, pp 22–24

Study of Socio-Epidemiological Factors Influencing Poisoning — Karthick Ramasamy, Gokularamanan Kandasamy; Med Pulse International Journal of Forensic Medicine, Print ISSN: 2579-0935, Online ISSN: 2636-4735, Volume 9, Issue 2, February 2019, pp 22–24

Associate Professor Dr. K. Thunder Chief, M.D.,

Diagnosis of Early Myocardial Infarction by Histochemical Staining of Heart on Autopsy — K. Thunderchief, J. Magendran; Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, April–June 2018, Vol. 12, No. 2

A Study of Contemporary Trends of Acute Fatal Poisoning of Pediatric Age Group in Rural Tertiary Care Hospital — J. Magendran, K. Thunderchief; Medico-Legal Update, July–December 2016, Vol. 16, No. 1, Pg No. 86