Like Sitaram Yechury and GN Saibaba, many are pledging body donation, but hurdles remain
Hesitance due to religious sentiments and the lack of a centralised system and law is making it difficult to ensure enough cadavers for medical research.
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Sukanta Das experienced a spectrum of emotions after Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury died on September 12. Das, 36, from Kolkata, who had been a member of the CPI(M)’s student wing in college, felt Yechury’s death was a huge loss for the party. But he also felt proud when he learnt that Yechury had donated his body for medical research. Das had already pledged to have his body donated.
“Even in death, you can serve humanity – that is what my politics and Yechury’s politics teaches,” Das told Scroll.
Volunteers and medical experts Scroll spoke to said there had been an increase in body donations. The donation of the bodies of public personalities such as Yechury and former Delhi University professor and human rights activist GN Saibaba have helped set a positive example.
But a lot of ground remains to be covered, especially since medical colleges that train students in anatomy and surgery are reliant on cadavers – the main purpose of body donation. This is different from organ donation, which is for transplantation into patients with failed organs.
A primary obstacle in body donation is religious sentiment. “People are uncomfortable with the idea that they will not get the body of their loved ones to perform last rites,” said Pallavi...
