Virtual autopsy, cold room at RIMS
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 12 2025: A VIRTOPSY Centre, equipped for virtual autopsy and a cold room will be inaugurated at the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Lamphel on July 14 .

The VIRTOPSY centre and the cold room are expected to improve and bring about significant changes in the functioning of the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department.

Manipur will be second in the North-East to have a VIRTOPSY Centre after NEIGRIHMS, Shillong.

Notably, the RIMS Mortuary has only one freezer that can store only 6 bodies at a time.

The addition of the cold room will now enable the hospital to store over 40 bodies at a time.

The cold room has been assembled and is ready for inauguration.

It has the capacity of storing 40 bodies at a time, said sources.

Meanwhile, the VIRTOPSY Centre at RIMS is expected to significantly boost the capabilities of the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department, RIMS.

The VIRTOPSY Centre is equipped for virtual autopsy-techniques that use medical imaging like CT scans and MRI to examine a body without traditional dissection.

The Computed Tomography (CT) Scan and the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) will make it more efficient, easier and faster for the medical professionals to identify wounds and complications in the body during postmortem examinations, said the sources.

While the assembly of the VIRTOPSY Centre is near completion, the centre is expected to become operational later.

Doctors, who will operate the machinery in the VIRTOPSY Centre, are currently undergoing the necessary training at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), Shillong.

Notably, RIMS Director Guruaribam Sunil Kumar Sharma is the first from the North East to have received Advanced Virtual Autopsy Training in Leicester, United Kingdom in February this year.

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