Bengaluru: “It is a common practise in our family to donate bodies to medical colleges after death," said 45-year-old Mallikarjun, a Bengalurean, who gave away the body of his 76-year-old father, Doddavasappa H. Bevianamarad to the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) on Wednesday.
Doddavasappa was bedridden for the last one year after a second stroke left him paralysed. “I was inspired by my cousin, who had donated his father’s body to an Ayurvedic College in Gadag,” said Mr Mallikarjun.
Asking others to donate bodies to medical colleges, he said, “Thousands die in our country every day, and there is a severe shortage of cadavers in medical colleges. This seriously affects the quality of research and teaching. It is important for people to come forward and donate the bodies," he said.
One of the major reasons for the shortage is that body donation is still considered a radical idea. Due to sentimental, religious or superstitious beliefs, relatives either bury or cremate the body.
At a press conference at KIMS Hospital on Wednesday, Mallikarjun said, “I am motivated by thousands of people across the country, including former Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu, freedom fighter Laxmi Sehgal and Kannada actor Lokesh, who donated their bodies after death for medical research and betterment of the society."
KIMS Administrative Officer Dr Madhushankar said, “There is a myth that bodies of their loved ones would be mutilated and not treated with dignity. Let me clarify that we use the bodies for research and take all due care."
He said a medical college with 150 students in a batch requires at least 15 bodies every year for students to practically learn surgical procedures. But because of the acute shortage, such colleges will have to make do with just one body.
