The Ministry of Justice and National Integration has informed coroners that deaths of all children under the age of five will be subject to a mandatory post-mortem examination.

In a circular shared with coroners, the ministry highlighted that this was an essential element of child death analysis in Sri Lanka.

Senior officials from the ministry claimed that this practice was being imposed to identify common causes of mortality rates in children under the age of 5 and take precautionary measures to avoid such deaths. “The post-mortem findings will be used to study and analyse the causes behind these deaths to reduce these death rates.”

Another source said the move is an attempt by the authorities to improve Sri Lanka’s health indicators following its recent triumph with low maternal mortality rates.

Currently, post-mortems are conducted only when a child’s death involves suspected harm, suspicious circumstances, or accidents. However, the new law would require internal examinations for all children under the age of five, even in cases where medical professionals have already determined the cause of death.

Experts have criticised the policy as unnecessarily invasive, noting that a post-mortem is not always needed when the death is not suspicious. They also pointed out that each post-mortem costs about Rs. 15,000, making routine examinations a significant waste of resources.

“They need to consult stakeholders involved in every step of this process before calling for drastic actions like this—not just dish out orders via circulars with no technical input,” the source said.

(sundaytimes.lk)

(This story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)