A senior public health official in Papua New Guinea is proposing public autopsies be carried out in cases where people claim sorcery is the cause of death.

Dr Betty Koka is the head of Enga's provincial Health Department, she has become increasingly worried about the number of people who are attacked and even killed over accusations of sorcery, or 'sanguma' as it is known in PNG.

In a number of cases, those accusations are a result of someone in the village getting sick or dying unexpectedly.

"This is a very big public health issue," Dr Koka said.

She said where there was suspicion of sorcery, stories got passed around and people had a tendency to believe them without seeing any proof for themselves.

"How do you know that this person died because someone ripped out his heart? It's all psychological," she said.

"The accusations come from saying the sorcerer's ripped out somebody's heart or ate the internal organs of this person … how does one know this?"

Dr Koka said educating people and dispelling the myths around sorcery could prevent further sorcery accusations and result in fewer attacks.

"One of the ways I thought to address this, I suggested it would be good to do an open post mortem," she said.

"If they say this [person's] — the deceased's — heart has been ripped out, OK let's open up the person. Let's open up the body and see if the heart is missing or is it in tact."

WARNING: The following video contains graphic content.

Dr Koka's call comes as PNG continues to grapple with attacks against people accused of witchcraft — including on children and the country's most senior judicial officer, Sir Salamo Injia.

Two weeks ago, Sir Salamo, PNG's chief justice, was ambushed by a large group of men as he travelled from his home in the Enga province.

Sorry, this video has expired Video of PNG women apparently tortured over sorcery allegations ( Beverley O'Connor )

The ambush of Sir Salamo, and his police escort, followed the kidnap and torture of two women from the chief justice's tribe accused of using sorcery to kill a man.

Sorcery-related violence has been happening in Papua New Guinea for decades, but recently the number of attacks has surged.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a​n average of 30 deaths and 72 incidents of torture reported in local newspapers each year, according to a study by the Divine Word University, PNG's National Research Institute, and the Australian National University.

Lutheran missionary Anton Lutz, who grew up and still works in Enga Province, said the violence has been escalating at an alarming pace over the past few months.

"Up to 30 women … have been attacked since Independence [Day] in mid-September, just in the district I know and where I grew up," he said.

The remains of a house set alight during an attack targeting a family accused of sorcery in Raguma-Yombi, Southern Highlands Province, PNG. ( ICRC: Jessie Boylan )

In November, a six-year-old girl was brutally tortured by members of her community who believed she was a witch because her mother — who was murdered in 2013 over sorcery accusations — had passed the power onto the child.

The girl suffered knife and burn wounds to her legs and back before she was rescued by Mr Lutz.

PNG police have set up a special taskforce to tackle sorcery-related violence and pledged $4 million in funding for education programs.

Police Commander Epenes Nili said he wanted to send a strong warning to communities involved in this behaviour.

"They try to … make things up to inflict injuries to ladies, and especially females, it's only evil. I strongly condemned that kind of action," he said in a video shared on YouTube.

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