Blog del Narco: Super Morgue Debuts as Death Toll Exceeds 60,000- Many Unidentified

In the final stretch of his term and amid the bloody war against organized crime that has so far left more than 60,000 dead, many of them unidentified, the head of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), Marisela Morales Ibáñez , on Wednesday inaugurated the first Forensic Medical Center (Cemefo) that will in theory determine the identity of the unidentified bodies.

The Center has a capacity to hold 150 bodies and, according to Morales Ibáñez, is equipped with technological equipment, so that it meets international protocols and regulatory standards for receiving, processing, storage of bodies and performing autopsies.

Thus Cemefo forensic specialists are prepared to determine the cause of death and mechanics, as well as identification and preservation of the corpses.

During his speech, Morales Ibáñez said that the Centre aims to ensure that the results have the reliability and certainty required in criminal proceedings.

In addition, he said, they will be assisted by other institutions of law enforcement and justice in identifying corpses, autopsies and other required services. Therefore, we will implement a new program to provide a database at national level; it will be necessary to aide in the recognition of bodies.

To that end, he said, four classrooms have been equipped with modern audiovisual equipment, which is a 60% increase in capacity in areas of education and training and retraining of experts in 26 specialties that include expert services of that institution.

Among the equipment available to them the facilities, is a chamber for preservation of bodies that complements the areas of criminal investigation related to the handling of corpses.
There are four stations for the performance of autopsies and for that infectious-contagious risk, with the necessary bio-safety conditions.

The facility also has a histopathology laboratory for the study of organs and tissues, in order to know the factors that might influence the cause of death and cannot be observed in the external review alone.
Also implemented a new program to identify bodies and body parts, which provide information to a national database for effective search and recognition.

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Published in El Blog del Narco