MUMBAI, Nov. 5 -- The city's largest civic-run public hospital, KEM, is developing a bioskills laboratory for medical students, mid-career doctors, consultants, paramedics and nursing staff to learn/ upgrade their skills. Doctors will get first-hand experience of various surgical procedures such as endoscopies and laparoscopies, ophthalmologic, orthopaedic, renal and gynaecological surgeries, knee replacements and even robotic surgeries on cadavers. The bioskills lab is part of the virtual autopsy centre, the first in the state, that is being set up in the hospital. Bioskills labs are of two kinds-dry and wet. In dry laboratories, learning is centred around artificial models while training in wet labs takes place on cadavers. KEM Hospital will develop a wet lab that will offer students the facility to learn techniques on fresh frozen cadavers over the traditional (embalmed) frozen cadavers. "Since traditional frozen cadavers tend to be dark and hard with the contour not maintained, the surgical and learning experience may not necessarily match with the real learning experience," said Dr Harish Pathak, dean of KEM Hospital, who also doubles as the head of the forensic science department. The slated KEM workshop is expected to meet this gap. The lab is an off-shoot of the redevelopment and upgradation of KEM's post-mortem centre. The current post-mortem facility is to be redeveloped into a five-storey prefabricated building that will be spread over 20,000 sq ft. Tenders have been floated, and the Rs 17-crore facility is scheduled to come up in the next 11 months. Currently, medical students learn on cadavers within general dissection sections without a specialised setup. The proposed bioskills lab will address this by featuring a facility capable of storing approximately 40 cadavers at any given time. Mumbai receives around 1,000 unclaimed bodies annually, which are utilised for medical studies, burial, or cremation. The project may be executed via a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, though KEM Hospital is finalising the exact details and extent of private involvement. As the BMC plans to raise green bonds, Dr Pathak highlighted that a PPP framework offers a sustainable approach for the department. Under this model, private sector hospitals could recommend their doctors for specialised mid-career training locally. Currently, many Indian private hospitals send medical professionals abroad to destinations like Singapore, Thailand, or Dubai for advanced training. Establishing this facility ensures high-quality, cost-effective courses within India. Additionally, the virtual autopsy lab will enable doctors to preserve digital evidence for future reference and research. 3D body scans will serve as valuable research data for training programs....