Ludhiana, April 25 -- The city civil hospital has been functioning without a forensic expert for nearly a year, forcing doctors to depend on external institutions like Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMC) and Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMC) for taking opinion in complicated medico-legal cases, raising concerns over delays in critical investigations and patient care.

Hospital officials said the absence of a trained forensic specialist has become a persistent operational gap for government hospitals across the state now, particularly in cases involving unnatural deaths, assault, poisoning, and other medico-legal complications where precise examination and documentation are crucial. In such situations, doctors often have...