The Department of Forensic Medicine is responsible for most of the medico-legal cases of the Kathmandu District and for education of medical students in the three districts that make up Kathmandu Valley. The department is also actively involved in the conducting of medico-legal trainings and for DVI operations through-out Nepal. This department conducted 1638 medico-legal autopsies in the last year, 2072 B.S.
In the Nepalese year 2072 B.S., in addition to DVI operations following the earthquake and two plane crashes, the department was involved in training undergraduate medical students from 6 medical colleges (over 550 medical students) and 1 dental college (over 50 students). These students undergo a compulsory two-week rotation during the third year of medical school and observe and assist in medico-legal autopsies and clinical forensic cases including age estimations, sexual assault victim and perpetrator examinations, etc.
During the year, the department conducted 9 medico-legal trainings for police personnel (over 200 police personnel), ranging from constable to inspector, including Scene of Crime Officers. These included lectures on forensic topics including post-mortem changes and estimation of post-mortem interval, findings in cases of different types of deaths, etc.
The department also conducted 3 medico-legal trainings for government medical officers (over 60 medical officers) ranging in medico-legal experience and designation from fresh medical school graduates to medical superintendents. This is an ongoing training program run with the assistance of the Ministry of Health, Government of Nepal. It includes 14 working days of full-time training that includes lectures as well as practical sessions. Several senior government officials including lawyers, judges and police officers give lectures and have a discussion with the medical officers to advise them on their queries and complaints. One of the training was for government medical officers with specific focus on medico-legal investigation of gender-based violence and sexual assault.
The department assisted in 2 medico-legal trainings at the National Judicial Academy with faculty members from the department taking lectures and chairing discussions. One of the trainings was conducted for 25 district court judges while the other was attended by 25 government advocates. These trainings were conducted for 1 week each and were geared towards training the judiciary on the interpretation of forensic findings.
The department with assistance from the ICRC conducted 3 trainings:
- 2 weeks’ training on Forensic Anthropology for its graduate students conducted by Dr. Derek Benedix.
- 1 week training on Forensic Odontology attended by dentists and forensic graduates from around Nepal and with 15 participants was conducted by Dr. Jayanie Weeratna.
- 3 day training on Mortuary Practices was conducted at the department and was attended by 18 forensic professionals from around Nepal and was chaired by Dr. Uwom Eze.
The faculty members at the department have also been active in the formation of MeLeSoN and conducting the first Annual General Meeting on Baisakh 25, 2073.
The department has become an institutional member of APMLA – Asia-Pacific Medico-Legal Agencies.
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