Bodies being tested for covid 19 at Forensics

PATHOLOGISTS are testing bodies for coronavirus at the Forensic Science Centre in St James.

As a result people have to come a day later to collect their relatives’ bodies.

Newsday was told while at the Forensic Science Centre in St James that families are being asked to identify their relatives’ bodies, then swabs are taken to be tested.

The process takes a few hours,but people are advised to wait 24 hours, then return to the Forensic Science Centre so an autopsy can be done.

Relatives of a police officer identified as PC Ramsaran, an member of the Inter Agency Task Force who was found dead in an abandoned house shortly after an argument on the phone, are among those who will have to return to the FSC for the autopsy because of the added precaution.

Reports said Ramsaran, of the Inter Agency Task Force, was on patrol with another police officer and two soldiers on Thursday night when at about 9.05 they stopped at an abandoned house in Desperlie Crescent, Laventille.

While they were there he took a call, and was heard arguing, before two gunshots were heard. His colleagues found him dead, holding his service gun.

Colleagues described him as an introverted, hard-working and responsible person.

One relative of a shooting victim who was killed during a robbery on Wednesday night agreed with the precaution. The relative said they went to the FSC on Thursday and had to return on Friday.

"Is all kind of things they (pathologists) are exposed to," the relative said.

Newsday contacted former pathologist Valerie Alexandrov, who said during his tenure at the FSC, he would test for respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis, especially if the person had recently been in an enclosed space, like prison.

All tests for covid19 are done at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).