Dunedin pathologists who conduct coronial postmortems have been ''agitating'' for change for years but the Ministry of Justice has not listened, Southern Community Laboratories (SCL) medical director Dr Peter Fitzgerald says.
The pathologists have threatened to withdraw from the service by the end of next month, and have already withdrawn weekend cover. It meant bodies potentially being transported out of the city for coronial postmortem.
The ministry's national forensic pathology service is run under contract by the Auckland District Health Board, with specialists in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Palmerston North.
The pathologists wanted a forensic service specialist based in Dunedin, Dr Fitzgerald said.
This would link the pathologists and the city to the rest of the service.
''These folks have been doing it out of a sense of community service and professional commitment to general helping out.
''But they're not resourced to do it. It's something that they do out of a sense of goodwill.''
Dr Fitzgerald said the ministry was aware of a potential problem since about 2008.
The well-signalled retirement of pathologist Dr Alex Dempster late last year was a turning point, because he held the service together.
''We said that there would be a major issue when he did [retire] and continued to make that point.
''If you had an issue you could go to Alex, and Alex would help you out.''
The ministry said it had four Dunedin pathologists on its books for the service.
Dr Fitzgerald said it was run in the main by two pathologists.
Dr Fitzgerald was speaking on their behalf; they have a separate contractual relationship to provide the service outside of their SCL jobs.
Frustrated by a lack of progress with the ministry, they decided to ''draw a line in the sand'', he said.
Dr Fitzgerald said the Invercargill coronial postmortem pathologist was satisfied with providing the service, but the area's isolation would become an issue for Southland over time.
Asked to respond, Ministry of Justice special jurisdictions acting general manager Tania Ott said she could not comment on the points raised by Dr Fitzgerald.
''The specific questions you are asking relate to service arrangements that are better dealt with by discussion between the ministry and SCL directly.''
