The Human Right Commission of Maldives (HRCM) has announced the guidelines for carrying out post-mortem.

The commission said that there are currently no guidelines that formally dictate proceedings if an adult or child under state care dies or if there a questionable circumstances surrounding a death. HRCM said that these guidelines have therefore been formally assigned to assist in such cases.

The Commission has further noted that the absence of such guidelines make it more likely that people's human rights are violated.

The guideline also sets out instructions regarding cases where a body needs to be exhumed after burial. As such, the guideline dictates that if a body needs to be exhumed following a post-mortem or sample collection, for a second post-mortem or autopsy, the process would require a court order submitted by surviving family or concerning government authorities.

The HRCM has included a model post-mortem form with the publishing of the guidelines.