India, March 20 -- LUCKNOW In a quiet corner of King George's Medical University (KGMU), four women are breaking gender barriers by performing one of the most demanding and least acknowledged jobs in the public healthcare system: working as mortuary attendants.

Inside the post-mortem house, these attendants form the invisible backbone of a complex medico-legal process that sits at the intersection of medicine, law and human grief. Their work intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic, but even years later, the scale, sensitivity and risks associated with their duties remain unchanged, like their modest pay and limited recognition.

They were among those who stayed on the frontlines when fear and uncertainty defined hospital spaces. When ha...