Delhi Government has issued directions to its hospitals to prepare post-mortem reports in computerised format instead of producing them manually as illegible handwriting of doctors caused confusion.

The decision was taken after a Delhi court suggested a slew of measures, including preparation of post-mortem and medical reports on computer for better comprehension.

Delhi Government's Additional Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, S S Sidhu informed Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal that an order in this regard has been issued to all eight hospitals which have been notified to conduct post-morterm examinations.

The hospitals where computer-generated post-mortem reports will be issued included Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur hospital and Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital.

During the proceedings in a criminal case, Medical Superintendent of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital told the court that they had also floated tenders for exploring the possibility of preparing computerised Medico-Legal Case (MLC) reports and also incorporating the picture of the injured in the reports.

"He further submits that the incorporation of the photograph in the MLC would lead to transparency in the criminal justice system as no accused will be able to take the advantage of the wrong MLC in the court, which will also be useful for his identification purposes," the court noted.

The court had in an order in April this year put forth the suggestions to streamline preparation of MLC as well as post-mortem reports.

"In most of the cases, the writings in the Medico Legal Case(s)/postmortem reports are not at all legible and lot of time is consumed in deciphering the said writings. The doctors have to first describe the contents written in the MLC(s) and postmortem reports, so that the same can be dictated and converted into legible words," the ASJ had said.

"The MLCs, especially the postmortem reports be prepared by computer typing, rather than handwriting to save the time of the court, defence lawyers and the accused and to give better clarity to the accused persons, as to what is against them," the court said.