Bhubaneshwar: The Odisha government has asked doctors working across the state to write postmortem reports and prescriptions in capital letters or legible handwriting to ease reading.

The state government notification came following an order from the Orissa high court last week in which it had directed the health department to ensure that doctors write “all prescriptions, postmortem reports and other documentation in legible handwriting, if possible, in capital letters or a typed form”.

Justice SK Panigrahi of the Orissa high court issued the order on January 4 after coming across a postmortem report which was not legible, and the doctor had to be summoned to explain it.

Delivering his judgement in a case of payment of ex-gratia to a snakebite victim, the court noted that the doctor who conducted the postmortem examination had written something which was not legible and could not be comprehended in an ordinary course of reading unless the writer himself or a handwriting expert was invited to examine such description.

“Following a “zig-zag” handwriting has become a norm among doctors, which makes it difficult for the common man and the judiciary to read those documents. This will ensure that the judicial system does not suffer from unnecessary fatigue in reading those documents,” the HC order said.

Following the HC order, the state health and family welfare department ordered all doctors in government and private health sectors to write prescriptions and medicolegal reports in clear handwriting or capital letters for better understanding.