For almost two weeks, there have been multiple reports of an impasse between the Government of Belize and police pathologist Dr. Mario Estradabran, regarding the renewal of his contract under which he provides post-mortem services to the Police Department for deaths in cases that are under the purview of the police.

The central reason that the parties have been at loggerheads is the remuneration which Estradabran is requesting. Whereas he declined to get into specifics, he told Amandala todaythat the sticking point is the increment he is see king, and they have not been able to come to an agreement.

Estradabran also operates a private clinic, St. Christopher Clinic and Pharmacy in Ladyville. He told us that he has been providing pathology services to the government for more than 25 years, since the early 1990’s.

He said that his contracts have been for 2-year durations, and he has had problems with his last four contracts, the last of which expired in February 2012.

Estradabran said that the last post-mortem he did for police was on Friday, May 4, 2012. The oldest corpses in the morgue have been there for about a week and a half, said Estradabran.

He confirmed that he has still not done a post-mortem on the body of Kevin “Boco T” Kelly, who died on April 26, 2012, while in police custody. Estradabran said that the post-mortem will be done whenever the police give him the nod.

Our newspaper understands that it costs $50 a day to keep a body at the morgue, so the tabs for the oldest corpses have already exceeded $500.

Estradabran declined to get into the details of how much a private autopsy costs; however, Amandala sources say that it runs in the thousands, depending on the examination’s complexity.

When we checked with the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) last week to determine the status of the bodies at the morgue, public relations consultant Brenda Stuart indicated that there were 10 bodies, but there is space for up to 21, she said.

On the KHMH’s end, said Stuart, everything continues as normal; however, she indicated that if there is a backlog on the police’s end, they would not be apprised, since those bodies belong to the police.

Amandala has been unable to reach the relevant government officials for comment, although Minister of National Security John Saldivar did indicate to 7 News that the Estradabran contract was still under negotiation, after Estradabran submitted a counterproposal.