More than ten thousand people have signed a petition calling for the Birmingham coroner to be supplied with a CT scanner to speed up autopsies.
The high-tech scanner can produce three-dimensional digital images of the body and remove the need for invasive post mortems and allow bodies to be released to relatives quickly.
Both Jews and Muslims prefer that a scan is used because the regard the sanctity of the body after death as important. Others want them because they do not like the idea of a loved one being cut open.
But currently Birmingham Coroner’s Office has to book a basic scanner owned by Sandwell Borough Council or even a more thorough scanner at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
More than 1,000 autopsies a year in Birmingham are estimated to be suitable for a scanner.
The coroner’s office is run by the city council and the issue was raised repeatedly at the council leader’s monthly question time session.
Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors joined members of the Birmingham Community Forum in renewing calls on the Labour council leadership to invest in a scanner.
Council leader Ian Ward (Lab, Shard End) said: “The Birmingham and Solihull coroner currently provides digital post mortems at Sandwell and the John Radcliffe Hospital. These have been available to us since June 2015.”
He said that they are currently used in cases where the coroner believes that a scan can help reveal the cause of death and at cost to the family of the deceased. The price is in the region of £500 per autopsy.
“I am now looking into the issues rasied by the Birmingham Community Forum and petitioners. I am investigating what might be done,” he added.
But Lib Dem councillor Zaker Choudhry (South Yardley) complained that former council leader John Clancy had given similar assurances back in April but there was no evidence of action. While cllr Matt Benneett (Cons, Edgbaston) asked what progress had been made.
Cllr Ward replied that he would look into it as soon as possible and would say more in the near future.
The corporate services scrutiny committee is expected to debate any petition of more than 10,000 signatures. As a result chairman Mohammed Aikhlaq (Lab, Bordesley Green) said that the issue would be discussed at its next meeting.
