02/07/2020
ICRIME and the Central American Integration System exchange experiences on forensic protocols and biosecurity measures
Specialists from the European project on criminal investigation in Central America to combat crime and drug trafficking at the international level ( ICRIME) have participated in a webinar that has addressed the challenges facing legal medicine in the SICA region (Central American Integration System formed by Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Belize and the Dominican Republic).
During this virtual meeting, an update was presented on all the questions of interest to the Institutes of Legal Medicine related to the response to Covid-19. Specialists exchanged experiences on recommended biosecurity measures, forensic action protocols and autopsy findings for deaths from Covid-19.
Throughout the session, the European and Central American experience in the face of the pandemic was shared. The speakers described how the Institutes of Legal Medicine have been affected in each of their countries, Spain and Costa Rica.
The problems raised in the field of forensic medicine include biosecurity measures aimed at forensic professionals, especially taking into account the possibility that those who have died from violent or unknown causes could be infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
In some countries, moreover, forensic institutes have been overwhelmed by the large number of corpses they have had to handle, being forced to establish measures that facilitate the conducting of autopsies. According to the speakers, it is necessary to be aware of the real health risk posed by Covid-19 and to relate it to the social importance of forensic medicine.
Finally, despite the fact that the numbers affected and the consequences of the pandemic have been very different between countries, attendees have been able to see how the legal medicine institutes face the same problems, there being many similarities in the way they are addressed.
ICRIME, which is financed by the European Union , is coordinated by the General Secretariat of SICA (SG-SICA) and is divided into 4 results, two of which are managed by FIIAPP and by the JCI and the others by the AECID .
