PGIMER to remodel anatomy museum

Tenders floated for upgrading the Prof Inder Jit Dewan Museum at an estimated cost of ₹2.46 crore

Eight years after the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) proposed to have a state-of-the-art anatomy museum for educational as well as public viewing purpose, the institute has given the final approval to remodel and expand its 49-year-old Prof Inder Jit Dewan Museum.

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Housed in a hall in Research Block B of the institute and closed to the public, the museum is not spacious enough to put all specimens in the organ collection on display, and only caters to training of medical students.

“Manifold expansion is on cards. As per the plans, the museum will be remodelled and upgraded at an estimated cost of ₹2.46 crore. The work, once started, will be completed in eight months. The tenders for the same have been floated, and the work is expected to start soon,” Kumar Gaurav Dhawan, deputy director (administration), PGIMER, told HT.

GROWING COLLECTION

Dhawan said the work to set up the museum began when Inder Jit Dewan, the then head of department of anatomy, was entrusted to do the medico-legal autopsy work in 1971.

“Taking up about 774 square metres with a small mezzanine floor, the museum has a notable strength of formalin-preserved healthy and diseased tissue and organ specimens harvested from cadavers,” Dhawan said.

According to the anatomy department of the institute, the collection, dating back to the 70s, continues to grow and now has over 3,300 mounted specimens covering all regions of the body along with their labelled photographs.

“No other anatomy museum, at least in India, has such a huge collection of specimens... It was felt that with improved display and modernisation, it could be one of the best museums in Asia which will be cherished as a remarkable asset for the country,” reads the remodelling plan document.

“The collection will be curated in the new museum in such a manner as the people can have a seamless learning experience of visiting the museum,” said Dhawan, adding that an additional mezzanine floor will be connected wit the existing one aerial bridge as per the expansion plan.

Anatomy department head Daisy Saini said, “Once the project is completed, we will request the administration that the museum also be opened for visitors, especially schoolchildren who can learn about the human body.”