Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology

About Department

The Department of Forensic Medicine was established in 1991 with the aim to train medical students to tackle all kinds of medico-legal problems during their professional career. The objective of the subject of Forensic Medicine and the departmental staff is to create a ‘first contact physician’ who is aware of the medical ethics, duties, and various acts governing the medical practice.

Dedicated Faculty

The department has a dedicated team of teachers who are highly qualified and experienced. Every member is keenly interested to participate in the student activities - teaching and non-teaching. We believe not only in training but developing a rapport with all the students through frequent interactions and timely counseling to address their academic and non-academic issues.

State-of-the-art Infrastructure

The department has adequate space with faculty rooms, an admin office, 2 demonstration rooms with 75 student capacity each, a practical hall with an accommodation of 75 students at a time, and a special room for departmental library and seminars. It also houses a museum of more than 2000 sq. ft displaying specimens of bones, weapons, poisons, X-rays, photographs, models, and charts for educating students and other visitors.

Teaching-Learning Process

We conduct a strict and disciplined teaching programme.
Our teaching and learning process includes lectures, tutorials, demonstrations, seminars, and periodic tests.
We give attention to the attendance and performance of the students periodically.
We offer to counsel those students who are found lacking in attendance and performance.
We inform the parents from time to time about the attendance and/or performance of their ward.
We put special efforts into the academically weaker students.
The result is invariably above 90% for each University examination.

Student Support

The HOD is the Chairperson of the anti-ragging committee.
The senior staff members of the department have regular interaction with students to address and resolve their academic, personal, and other problems.
The department felicitates the students who give the best seminar presentation.
The department organizes special orientation lectures for interns and post-graduate residents.
The department conducts regular counseling of students having poor performance and/or attendance.
The department conducts counseling of the parents and regular communication with them.

Objectives

To create a primary contact physician well-versed in medico-legal knowledge, its application, and its contribution to the administration of justice.
To impart training in the documentation of various medico-legal certificates/reports.
To create a medical practitioner who is ethical and socially aware of his/her responsibilities as a physician.

Highlights

The Department of Forensic Medicine is committed to providing the highest quality education to the students in medico-legal work and medical ethics. It has a state-of-the-art infrastructure with all the academic and research facilities.

Facilities

The Forensic Medicine department has established a medicolegal cell for providing guidance to the staff of the Bharati Hospital, Pune, in carrying out medicolegal work smoothly.
The department is presently equipped with 3 computers, 2 printers, 1 scanner, and 2 internet connections to help the staff to impart better training to the students.

Activities

The faculty members have successfully completed self-financed projects of ‘Review of Capital Punishment’ and ‘Medicolegal Autopsy-Past, Present, and Future’.
They are presently working on projects like ‘Critical study of head injury cases’ and ‘Profile of poisoning cases’ admitted in Bharati Vidyapeeth Hospital, Pune.
All the staff members participate in activities like state-level and national conferences, CMEs, workshops, etc.
The senior faculty members represent the college as resource persons in various forums.

Teaching Methodology

The Department of Forensic Medicine conducts lectures, tutorials, demonstrations, seminars, and periodic tests.
It uses videos while teaching certain topics like Rape, Exhumation, Firearm Injuries, etc.
As the department believes in interactive teaching, it conducts interactive sessions like seminars in which students present a small topic using LCD with the help of their teacher. This activity boosts confidence and helps in personality development for the future.
Counseling sessions are regularly held for the students who are weak in performance and/or irregular in attendance. In some cases, even the parents are involved in these sessions.
The department takes regular feedback from the students. This feedback is analyzed and discussed with the staff members and adequate measures are taken to cater to the students’ needs.
The department displays ‘Medico-legal News and Views’ on the notice board regularly.

Achievements

We are proud to celebrate the achievements of our dedicated faculty members.

Dr. Ravi Rautji

Postgraduate teacher, guide, and examiner in various universities.
Published chapters in books and manuals.
Guest speaker at various forums.
Selected by the MCI for designing a new UG curriculum as per the CBME in Forensic Medicine and Toxicology.
Selected by the MUHS for designing curriculum for the BPMT Forensic Medical Science.
Chairperson of the Anti-ragging-committee BVDU Medical College, Pune.

Dr. Kavita R Deshpande

Awarded for the best scientific paper in Forensic Science and Law session, presented at IAMLE 2018, organized by the Indian Association of Medical Expert at Dr. DY Patil Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, Pimpri, Pune, from 26/10/2018 to 28/10/2018.