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Shimla: 97-year-old’s body donated to IGMC
The IGMC has registered nearly 450 persons who have offered to donate their bodies for medical research but the college has got just 10 cadavers of which four were unclaimed bodies
Owing to low awareness and religious beliefs, Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) and hospital has received only 10 cadavers since 2008 when the Deh Daan Simiti initiative was started.
The IGMC has registered nearly 450 persons who have offered to donate their bodies for medical research but the college has got just 10 cadavers of which four were unclaimed bodies.
The hospital received its tenth cadaver on November 10, as honouring last respect, family members of 97-year-old Mangat Ram Chauhan, a renowned social reformer and former Panchayat head from Kotkhai in district Shimla who died at his native village, Domehar, Kotkhai, district Shimla of heart attack donated his body to Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla.
Chauhan had donated his body to IGMC in 2014 and directed his family not to carry out any ritual after his death. On November 10, his body was handed over to the hospital with his message that every part of the body should be for the betterment of human life and science.
A matriculate in pre-independence India, Chauhan was among first to build durable assets for panchayat, Kairi, he headed for 10 years. During his tenure he allocated huge amount of land to the poor and planted an orchard for the panchayat in about 60 bigha, which provides an annual income of about ₹30 lakh annually. The panchayat under him won the best panchayat in Asia award. At an age of 50, he gave almost all his property to his children and started an education trust for poor and orphan children. Over 50 children were provided residential facilities till college level and coaching for entrance exams. Many of the children educated at Giri Gyan Vidya Jyoti Trust, Kotkhai, are in government jobs and professional jobs. The trust was fully family funded and through donors.
The Department of Medical Education is also to blame as it has no cadaver donation programme. “People refuse cadaver donations due to their religious beliefs”, said an anatomist. MBBS students rued that they did not get an opportunity to perform real-time cadaver dissection because the colleges lack cadavers.
Anju Pratap Kaundal, head, Department of Anatomy, IGMC, said: “With the body donated today so far only 10 cadavers have been donated since 2008.”
“The reasons can be many including religious beliefs, hilly terrains making difficult to transport the body. We have sizeable number of people (450) who have volunteered to donate body, but actual donations are too less” she added.
Dr Kaundal said human cadaver, after it is treated with chemical, could last 15 years or so. The college has even set up a museum that caters to the needs of the college as the students can learn from parts of skeleton as well. However the MCI norms, one cadaver weather real or virtual for every 10-15 MBBS students is needed.
A retired doctor not willing to be named said, “There were times when there were no bodies donated but atleast now some individuals come forward to donate bodies that can be used for research. But till there is no public participation nothing will change. There is a need to run sustained awareness campaigns. Donation of the body is the biggest service one can do to mankind.”
