The department is currently providing training in the subject specialty of Forensic Medicine for the undergraduate students of III, IV and V semesters of II MBBS degree classes and Postgraduate students aspiring for MD Forensic Medicine.

The department has modern amenities with well-planned and furnished faculty rooms and office. It is equipped with computers, laptops for all the faculty, internet facility, departmental research room, an outstandingly organized museum, full-time operational staff library and a huge student laboratory, a spacious demo room with OHP, LCD projectors which can comfortably seat about 70 students.    

The department does service to society by performing round the clock medico-legal autopsies and embalming services in a well-equipped manner and has maintained a separate mortuary block with modern equipment's and instruments.

The mortuary is located 150 meters away from the department, adjacent to Food Court, Manipal. The morgue is sufficiently measured and is provided with two dissection tables with a well-equipped viscera storage room and a cold chamber amenity for preserving 14 bodies at a time. The mortuary block has the capacity to undertake two cases at a time and can accommodate 60-70 students at a time. Autopsy workload is undertaken by the faculty and technical staff members of the department range up to nearly 300 cases annually.

Medico-legal cases for the autopsy, expert opinion (sexual offenses), skeletal remains, age certificate etc. are referred from the Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Coorg and Chikmagalur districts of Karnataka.  There are nine medico-legal experts including the Head of the Department who render humane service to the community at large.

The department is vibrant and has done many CME’s, workshops and conferences till date. The department hosts an All India Quiz Program for undergraduates annually. The department is unique in the sense that it has self-learning modules and one of the best forensic museums in the country.

Key Features

• One of the largest departments in Karnataka and in existence since 1967
• Uses various innovative methods such as, self-learning modules, integrated teaching and interactive sessions
  
• Best class infrastructure and faculty profile
• Curriculum designed to facilitate students in pursuing higher education in India.

About the Area of Study

Forensic medicine is a branch of medicine which deals with application of medical knowledge in the administration of justice. In addition to teaching the subject to the undergraduates of second MBBS in their II, IV and V semesters and postgraduates the department conducts post-mortem examination of medicolegal death cases. It is regularly involved in solving skeletal remains, giving expert opinions and exhumations. The department visits crime scenes and courts to help to investigate officers and the judiciary solve crimes. It also takes up clinical forensic medicine work in the form of examination of victims and accused of sexual assault, age estimation, issuing of wound certificate, examination of drunkenness case, etc. It conducts training programs for the police, lawyers and medical officers regularly.

The department conducts research which helps update the subject specialty. It gives an orientation towards legal matters to the medical fraternity.