Garhakota's autopsy room has been roofless for five years
Geeta Bali, a resident of Garhakota town in Madhya Pradesh, starts her day by walking up to the local health centre with an unusual question - "Are there any post mortems today?"
'No', says the guard, and Geeta, 32, is relieved. This means she can wash her clothes at the public tap, right next to a broken section of the local health centre where autopsies are performed in the open.
Five years ago, the roof of the autopsy room at the Garhakota Community Health Centre collapsed, and the district administration has not repaired it yet.
So in this town, 250 km from Bhopal, the entire neighbourhood is subjected to the sight of bodies being cut open or simply left rotting on the table.
Geeta, who lives four houses away from the centre, complains, "When bodies are bought here it is difficult for us to even breathe or eat, the smell is so bad. There are body parts lying in and around the post mortem room. Also my children are very scared."
Five to seven bodies are brought here for post mortems every month. Those days some 200 families live with a foul stench and generally avoid leaving home.
Asking the doctors and guards about any autopsies has become their first chore of the day.
Doctors say they can't turn away bodies.
"We receive bodies which are 4-5 days old, they are infected. We cannot keep them inside the health centre. So we conduct post mortem outside. A budget has been allocated for a new room, so hopefully very soon we will have a new room for post mortems," said Dr LS Sakya, Medical Officer at the centre.
Over Rs 12 lakhs has been approved for a new post mortem room, but work is stuck in red tape. The tender has not been passed, and doctors believe it will take another year for a new room.
After media glare on the shocking open air autopsies, the authorities have started repairing the existing facility and say they will soon have a temporary tin roof up.