Section 71: Postmortem examination

71. Postmortem examination (1) (a) Where— (i) the death of a person is suspected of having been due to an infectious or communicable disease and the facts relating to the death cannot with certainty be ascertained without a postmortem examination; or (ii) it is desirable that, for preventing the occurrence or spread of an infectious or communicable disease, the facts relating to the death of any person should be ascertained, the Sanitary Authority may order a postmortem examination of the body of the deceased person to be made by a medical practitioner. (b) For the purpose of an examination under subsection (1) the Sanitary Authority may further apply to a Magistrate for an order that the body, if already buried, be disinterred. (2) The Sanitary Authority may remove the body to a mortuary for the purpose of holding a postmortem examination. (3) In this section, “infectious or communicable disease” means cholera, plague, typhus fever, cerebro-spinal fever, acute influenzal pneumonia, yellow fever and such other diseases as may be prescribed.